19 November 2013

MSTC plans to set up ship recycling yard at Gujarat

NEW DELHI: State-owned trading firm MSTC has proposed to set up an integrated ship recycling yard under the Public Private Partnership route at Alang in Gujarat.

"The project can bring in substantial revenue for the government in the form of taxes and levies on the real value of goods as recorded in the e-commerce transactions," MSTC, which is under the administrative control of Steel Ministry, has said in its proposal.

It will also ensure that steel and allied products from the ship-breaking are sold through transparent and fair transactions, the proposal said.

MSTC suggested that "ship recyclers could avail the services of MSTC for disposal of various scrap material and e-waste through e-auction for safe handling and better price discovery", evincing interest in setting up the project at Alang.

A Steel Ministry panel, headed by its Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser, Vinod Kumar Thakral, has suggested MSTC contact Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) or the state government with the proposal.

Alang houses one of Asia's largest ship breaking yards. It produces 3.5 million tonne of re-rollable steel per year and employs around 50,000 people.

Alang yard has 167 plots developed on 10 km long coast. It has a breaking capacity of 4 million tonne per annum. The Gujarat Maritime Board regulates the ship breaking activities there.

As many as 1,514 ships were received for breaking up at the Alang yard between 2009-10 and 2012-13, compared to less than 200 ships at Mumbai and Kerala yards.

Source: Economic times. 18 November 2013

No comments: