In the context of the formulation of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, it has been decided to set up a Working Group on ports. The composition of the Working Group will be as follows:

1.	Secretary, Department of Shipping	Chairman
2.	Addl.  Secretary / Financial Adviser, Department of Shipping	Member
3.	Adviser to Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission	Member
4.	Adviser ( Tpt ), Planning Commission	Member
5.	Development Adviser (Ports), Department of Shipping	Member
6.	Addl. Secretary, Department of Coal	Member
7.	Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce	Member
8.	Executive Director (Planning), Ministry of Railways	Member
9.	Representative from Ministry of Defence	Member
10.	Representative o Ministry of Environment and Forests	Member
11.	Representative of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas	Member
12.	Representative of Ministry of Power	Member
13.	Representative of Ministry of Steel	Member
14.	Representative of Department of Road Transport and Highways	Member
15.	Representative of Central Board of Excise and Customs	Member
16.	Representative of Department of Ocean Development	Member
17.	Representatives of Government of West Bengal,	Member
18.	Representative of Govt , of Maharashtra	Member
19.	Representative of one land locked state-Madhya Pradesh	Member
20.	Managing Director (Projects) Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), New Delhi	Member
21.	Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Dredging Corporation of India	Member
22.	Representative of Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (IDFC)'	Member
23.	Representative, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO),	Member
24.	Representative of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)	Member
25.	Representative of Indian Private Ports and Terminals Operators Associations (IPPTA)	Member
26.	Joint Secretary (Ports), Department of Shipping	Convener

2. The Terms of Reference of Working Group will be as follows:

1. To review physical and financial performance of port sector with particular reference to Tenth Plan with projected traffic and planned capacity augmentation (commodity-wise and port-wise), improvement in productivity and internal resources.
2. To formulate strategy for the development of ports keeping in view the need to - (a) meet the traffic demand; (b) improve productivity of port operations; (c) make the port services truly competitive; and (d) increase role of private sector.
3. To formulate programmes for the development of the port sector during each year of the 11^th Plan period separately indicating the physical targets and financial requirements / outlays as also sources of funding.
4. To recommend measures for improvement of productivity in port operations .
5. To review the policy of tariff setting including the role of Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP).
6. To review the progress made towards private sector participation in the development of ports and suggest measures for increasing the role of private sector in development of ports.
7. To assess the progress made towards providing rail-road connectivity to ports and suggest measures to further improve linkages between port and surface mode of transport.
8. To assess dredging requirement of major and minor ports and recommend policy framework for meeting such requirements.
9. To study the organizational structure of Major Ports and recommend measures for restructuring with a view to facilitate port operations on commercial basis.

3. The Chairman of the Working Group may include any additional terms of reference in consultation with Member (AH), Planning Commission.

4. The Chairman of the Working Group may co-opt officials or non-officials as Members and constitute sub-groups, if considered necessary.

5. The non-official Members of the Working Group will be paid TA / DA at the rates applicable for Grade-I officers of the Central Government for attending meetings of the Working Group.

6. Department of Shipping has formulated NMDP Programme port sector component of which comprise of projects to be implemented / under implementation in major ports upto 31^st March, 2012. Working Group will take into account the projects proposed in NMDP and also factor in the Business Plans prepared by the major ports while formulating its recommendations.

7. The Working Group will submit its report to the Planning Commission by 31^st August, 2006.

8. Sh. Sugan Singh, Director (Tpt.), Planning Commission, Room No. 461, Yojana Bhavan (Tel. No. 23096706) will act as the  Nodal Officer  and any further communication in this regard may be made with him.