In its bid to boost the ship-breaking industry in Gujarat, the state government has initiated a concerted move to develop, maintain and operate the Alang Ship Breaking Yard near Bhavnagar on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

The Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), a leading consultancy firm, which the government had engaged last year to carry out a comprehensive study relating to the various aspects of the Ship Breaking Yard, has just completed the task of preparing a draft report and submitted it to the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB).

Though the number of ships coming for dismantling at the Alang yard kept dwindling in the last four to five years, the situation has considerably improved this year.

As against 136 and 135 ships that came to Alang in 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively, the number increased to over 200 in 2008-09 and is likely to touch the 300 mark this year, said GMB sources.