INTERVIEW - Top global firms eye India port plans - secretary

By Rajesh Kumar Singh and Rajkumar Ray

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Global firms including Rio Tinto and Noble Group are interested in participating in India's 558 billion rupees ($11.5 billion) port expansion projects, a top government official said.

Shipping Secretary A.P.V.N. Sarma told Reuters on Friday that India would build 50 new ports over the next five years as it looks to overhaul creaky infrastructure and reduce congestion at ports that is holding up trade and growth.

"There is enthusiasm and lot of participation by the 'who's who' internationally in the shipping and port sectors," he said in an interview in his office overlooking the red sandstone parliament.

Other consortia to show interest include ones with Portugal's top construction firm Mota-Engil, London-based investor Eredene Capital and local firms such as Larsen & Toubro, he said.

India has 12 major ports, where ships load and unload three-quarters of the country's annual traffic of 723 million tonnes. The rest is handled at 200 smaller ports.

The global downturn has posed a major challenge to India's ambitious plans to ramp up its infrastructure spending to $500 billion for the five fiscal years ending March 2012.

Analysts have said the country needs to build roads, ports, highways and power plants faster than ever before to return to 9 percent growth rates. The economy grew 6.7 percent in 2008/09 (April/March), the slowest in the last six years.