The ambitious Sagar Mala project, announced by prime minister Narendra Modi that aims to interconnect all coastal cities in the country through road, rail, ports and airports with a special development package is going to be a reality soon.
During the brainstorming session with 45 stakeholders on Tuesday, the Ministry of Shipping headed by Nitin Gadkari, proposed to finalise the concept at earliest to implement the project.
At the meeting, which was chaired by shipping secretary Vishwapati Trivedi, it was mutually agreed to perceive Sagar Mala as an integrated infrastructure-cum-policy project to develop the maritime sector in the country.
The stakeholders from Ministry of Railways, Surface Transport and Highways, DIPP, Planning Commission, Customs, Major and Minor Ports, State Maritime Boards, ADB and representatives from trade and industry such as CII, FICCI, INSA, and ICCSA participated in the session.
The main issues which were discussed at length and breadth during the meet were about the initiatives to be taken for Port-led development, policy framework to promote coastal shipping and inland water transport and institutional framework for implementation of the Sagar Mala project.
‘Sagar Mala’ was an initiative that was announced by former PM Manmohan Singh in 2003 with the objective of achieving rapid capacity expansion and modernisation of ports along India’s east and west coast.
The project envisaged developing ports to levels comparable with the best global ports in terms of infrastructure, efficiency and quality of service and creating ship building and ship repair facilities and increase the use of inland waterways for transportation.
During the brainstorming session with 45 stakeholders on Tuesday, the Ministry of Shipping headed by Nitin Gadkari, proposed to finalise the concept at earliest to implement the project.
At the meeting, which was chaired by shipping secretary Vishwapati Trivedi, it was mutually agreed to perceive Sagar Mala as an integrated infrastructure-cum-policy project to develop the maritime sector in the country.
The stakeholders from Ministry of Railways, Surface Transport and Highways, DIPP, Planning Commission, Customs, Major and Minor Ports, State Maritime Boards, ADB and representatives from trade and industry such as CII, FICCI, INSA, and ICCSA participated in the session.
The main issues which were discussed at length and breadth during the meet were about the initiatives to be taken for Port-led development, policy framework to promote coastal shipping and inland water transport and institutional framework for implementation of the Sagar Mala project.
‘Sagar Mala’ was an initiative that was announced by former PM Manmohan Singh in 2003 with the objective of achieving rapid capacity expansion and modernisation of ports along India’s east and west coast.
The project envisaged developing ports to levels comparable with the best global ports in terms of infrastructure, efficiency and quality of service and creating ship building and ship repair facilities and increase the use of inland waterways for transportation.