Maharashtra to get a new port, JNPT-Hyderabad NH

After the Centre’s boost to develop the ambitious Sagarmala project, Maharashtra is going to benefit with a new port at Wadhwan near Dahanu and a national highway connecting Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust with Hyderabad.

The announcements were made by Union minister for shipping and ports Nitin Gadkari on Thursday at the first Maritime India Summit at suburban Goregaon.

Mr Gadkari also claimed the Sagarmala project would be completed in just five years time, aiming to make logistics cheaper in the country by using waterways.

“We are developing eight new ports in the country of which Wadhwan in Maharashtra, Sagar in West Bengal and Colachel in Tamil Nadu are on the priority list. The Sagarmala project has a 10-year period for development. But I will make it possible in five years time. Major ports have registered profits of Rs 4,200 crore in 2015-16. We have launched an ambitious program “Project Unnati” to modernise our major ports and investment is of USD 50 billion,” Mr Gadkari said. The prime objective of the Sagarmala project is to promote port-led direct and indirect development and to provide infrastructure to transport goods to and from ports quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.

Unfolding his plan for port development, Mr Gadkari said six multi-model logistic parks are planned. “A national highway will connect Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust to Hyderabad. Export of goods will be encouraged from Ganga river to Brahmaputra then Myanmar up till Singapore,” he said.

Emphasising on reducing logistics cost to half, Mr Gadkari said that with the current infrastructure it is easier to send goods from Mumbai to London rather than to Delhi. “The logistics cost in China is one third of India. Our efforts are to reduce the logistics cost in the country by using 1,011 waterways and 7,200 km long coastline,” the minister added.

The Centre has also planned to boost tourism in 280 light houses and 1,300 islands in the country, he added. A National Perspective Plan for the entire coastline being prepared by his ministry has identified Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs), synergy and integration with planned Industrial Corridors, Dedicated Freight Corridors, National Highway Development Programme, Industrial Clusters and SEZs along the coastline.