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ChPT defers move on pact with P&O

Raja Simhan T.E.

CHENNAI, March 14

THE Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) board on Wednesday deferred its decision to clear the concession agreement to be signed with the private operator, P&O Ports, Australia, for the proposed privatisation of the container terminal inside the Chennai port.

Mr P. Baskaradoss, Chairman, ChPT, told Business Line that labour representatives wanted the board to first resolve issues concerning labour interest, before the agreement was approved. The labour representatives also wanted a correction in the concessio n agreement to protect the interest of the labourers, he said.

The board, which met here on Wednesday at a special meeting on a single point agenda - the concession agreement, would now take up the issue again at its routine meeting, the date of which is yet to be finalised, he said.

As per the concession agreement only two options are available for the workers of the container terminal, either be part of P&O or opt for a VRS. The workers have been opposing both, and instead wanted to be retained by the port trust.

Accordingly, a third option, to retain workers with the port trust and still make the proposal financially viable, may be worked out. This might be discussed in the coming board meeting, sources said.

The concession agreement was put forth at the special meeting, after the Madras High Court recently dismissed all the writ petitions filed by stevedores and workers unions against the container terminal project.

Opposing the discussion on signing the concession agreement, container terminal workers obstructed work for a few minutes, sources said.

The workers also resented the move to hand over the container freight station (CFS) inside the port to the private operator. In the draft concession agreement, and its annexure, it has been planned to hand over the CFS too, which was not part of the orig inal tendering process, sources said.

They said the Ministry is pushing the Port Trust to clear the agreement, and hand over the terminal to P&O, at the earliest. As per the original plan, P&O Ports was supposed to start work from January this year.