The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday allowed the state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) to charter ships to import coal and other raw materials instead of going through ?Transchart?.
Transchart is the ships chartering wing of the shipping ministry and at present all government departments are required to go through this department.
Earlier such a facility was extended to government-owned oil refiners. The facility is expected to enable the state-run steel making companies meet their import requirements of coal swiftly and without delay.
The cabinet also approved the project with an estimated cost of Rs 845 crore for upgradation of existing facility and creation of a new facility at Visakhapatnam Port Trust for iron ore handling in two phases on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT). The project will be taken up under Private Public Partnership (PPP) mode on DBFOT basis, therefore, the entire investment on the project will be made by the concessionaire.
