The shipping ministry is likely to meet its target for port capacity additions and is aggressively pushing policy changes to speed up security clearances for port projects, shipping secretary Vishwapati Trivedi said.

The ministry has cleared 20 port projects worth Rs.6,000 crore, envisaging 102 million tonne (mt) capacity in the first nine months of fiscal 2014, Trivedi said.

“We have already awarded 20 projects which have a capacity of a little over 100 mt, as against the target 30 projects which will boost the capacity by 250 mt,” Trivedi said at an industry event on Thursday.

“Besides, the fourth terminal of the country’s largest container port Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, which will require an investment of Rs.6,700 crore, will be awarded before March. This project alone will add a capacity of 64 mt,” he said.

The government has put in place a process for getting security clearances for a port in three months to speed up approvals, Trivedi said.

The approvals take time as they have to come from the ministries of defence, external affairs and home affairs. “There are reasons why the government is slow,” Trivedi said, pointing to other concerns like the oversight of various vigilance bodies.

The country’s major ports play a key role in facilitating external trade, which accounts for 40% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP). Delays in port projects will cost the Indian economy a significant chunk of GDP growth that could have been otherwise realized.