New ship recycling policy to revive Alang

Te state go vernment on Monday anno unced a revised ship recyc ling policy in a bid to salvage the dwindling ship breaking business in Alang.

The government has "ra tionalized" most of the charges payable by the plot holders but allowed them flexibility to resize, realign and readjust the plot sizes as per requirement and size of the vessels that come for breaking.

Earlier, the ship brea kers did not have the permission to dismantle ves sels in plots of particular si zes. As per the new policy the permission for the plot will be given for a long-term lease of 10 years instead of five years as in the past.

"Extending the plot utili zation period from five ye zation period from five ye ars to 10 years is a welcome step. This will also enable the ship breakers to get letters of credit from the banks much more easily," a ship breaker in Alang told TOI.

The ship breaking policy was last revised in 2004.

However, the light displacement tonnage (LDT) charges have been hiked from Rs 100 per LDT to Rs 135, plot development charges from Rs 200 per sq m to Rs 270 per sq m and rent charges from Rs 60 per sq m to Rs 80. "The industry is in a bad shape because of the dumping of low-cost steel by China. We are expecting the re vival of the ship breaking in the coming year though this policy," said Patel.

Alang has 167 plots along the 10 km coastal area, which have been leased out by the Gujarat Maritime Board.

Source: times of india. 20 January 2016

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