Promoting coastal shipping of cargo

It is estimated that about `40,000 Cr could be saved by promoting cargo transportation by enhancing coastal shipping in 10 years under the ambitious Sagarmala project, a port-led development scheme.

Sagarmala is an ambitious project to promote port-led direct and indirect development of coastal states and to provide infrastructure for transporting goods via ports quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.

The government last month has announced to spend `70,000 crore on development of major ports and has received 104 suggestions from international consultants to increase efficiency. Once implemented, this will result in cargo traffic increasing three-fold while the ports will also go under performance audit. Kandla and Paradip – were being developed into Green smart cities and the government is eyeing at `4,500 profit from ports this fiscal.

Thirteen states and union territories are involved in Sagarmala initiative which will be implemented across India’s 7,500 kms coastline.