(Left to Right) Prakash Javadekar, Union MoS for environment, forest and climate change, Suresh Prabhu, Union minister for Railways and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nitin Gadkari, Union minister of shipping, road transport and highways during the Maharashtra Investment Seminar in Mumbai on Monday. (Photo: Shripad Naik)
(Left to Right) Prakash Javadekar, Union MoS for environment, forest and climate change, Suresh Prabhu, Union minister for Railways and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nitin Gadkari, Union minister of shipping, road transport and highways during the Maharashtra Investment Seminar in Mumbai on Monday. (Photo: Shripad Naik)
On the third day of the ‘Make In India’ week, many announcements were made and sops were declared while highlighting the potential of the country. Maharashtra was gifted with a new port near Mumbai called Wadhavan near Dahanu and infrastructure works of Rs 68,000 crore. A new airport was announced for Pune. Also, the building proposals would get speedy environment clearance from the environment ministry.
In a discussion on ‘Make in Maharashtra — Laying the New Game Plan for Success’, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari announced about the new port for the city. A port policy for the city has been announced after 14 years. At present, the city has JNPT and BPT handling logistics. The minister also announced satellite ports at Wardha and Jalna with facilities for cold storage. He said the government had vowed to bring down logistic costs to 10-12 per cent from current 18 per cent.
“The Wadhavan port near Dahanu will cost Rs 10,000 crore and Cabinet approval has been sought for it. We will complete the work in two years’ time. We have built 20,442-km roads in cement and concrete and will invest Rs 585 crore for national highways. There is Rs 68,000 crore worth of infrastructure projects in the pipeline for Maharashtra and they will be completed in three years. The Mumbai-Goa four-lane highway will be completed in two years. We also expect an investment of Rs 3 lakh crore for infrastructure in Maharashtra in the coming three years,” Mr Gadkari said.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a new airport for Pune city to decongest the existing one. “We will soon finalise the place for the new airport for Pune to reduce congestion,” he said.
Boasting about its quick decision-making, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said his ministry would clear 943 projects with adequate environment safeguards. “I was shocked to know that building approvals were pending for three years and hence we decided to standardise the process and clear the proposals fast. We are also inviting the PPP model for forest management which can plant trees, cultivate them and cut them with conditions,” he said.
Chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya said 8,000 hectares of land would be made available to set up industries in the state. He also talked about reduced permissions to set up the industry and a single-window system for the approvals.
