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Thursday, Oct 19, 2006
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New policy for Alang yard

Special Correspondent

Move to revive Asia's largest ship-breaking yard

GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat Government on Wednesday declared a new policy for the allotment of plots at Alang to try to revive Asia's largest ship-breaking yard in Bhavnagar district in the Saurashtra region.

The new policy framework was cleared at a meeting of the State Cabinet held here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The Cabinet spokesman, Urban Development Minister I.K. Jadeja and Minister of State for Finance Saurabh Patel said the new policy was framed after a detailed consultation with the ship-breakers and the experts in the ship-breaking industry.

Attacking the UPA Government at the Centre, Mr. Jadeja said the State Government decided to revise the policy after its efforts to seek certain financial concessions for the dying ship-breaking industry from the Union Government failed to elicit any favourable response.

`Dying a slow death'

Alang, the country's only ship-breaking yard which once earned crores for the Central exchequer, was dying a slow death because it had not been able to compete with other newly developing yards in China and Bangladesh.

The business was down to less than 20 per cent of the average turn around of about 300 ships a year that came for dismantling at the 173 plots at Alang owned by the Gujarat Maritime Board and given on lease to the ship-breakers.

Mr. Jadeja said the new policy would provide new lease of life to the ship-breaking yard and help revive 100 odd re-rolling mills in Bhavnagar entirely depended on the dismantled ships and over 800 oxygen plants required for ship-breaking.

He said as part of the 17-point revival package, the allocation of the ship-breaking plots would be recorded from October 1, 2004, for a period of five years with a provision of renewal for 10 more years and a 50 per cent cut on the premium of Rs 400 per square metre.

The Government had also withdrawn the minimum criteria of dismantling not less than 10,000-tonne ships for which the plot owners had to pay heavy penalty for not getting such big ships due to recession.

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