Chennai: Port development across the country will see more development soon, as the Centre is planning to start an exclusive department to lure private investment for sea port development, especially cargo handling.
In Tamil Nadu, the Union shipping ministry is likely to give impetus to the Colachel port in Kanyakumari district and in addition identify other vital ports for development. The initiative, it is said, will make the Indian seaports more competitive and viable.
India is the 16th largest maritime country in the world and accounts for a long coastline of 7,515 km and of this TN has a long coastline of about 1,076 km.
As per the National Perspective Plan detailing the contours of Sagarmala, the government’s flagship programme to promote port-led development in the country, the programme could lead to annual logistics cost savings of close to Rs 35,000 crore and boost India’s merchandise exports to $110 billion by 2025.
About one crore new jobs are estimated to be created, of which 40 lakh will be direct employment The Union Shipping Ministry’s Sagarmala programme aims to replicate the successes stories of the United States, Japan, Korea and more recently, China that have leveraged their coastline and waterways to drive industrial development.
According to Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan development and improvement of capacity of cargo handling at major ports is a continuous process.
“Various activities such as augmentation of berths - terminals, mechanisation of berths, installation of state-of-the-art equipment, capital dredging, improving rail-road connectivity to ports etc are regularly carried out to meet the demand of the market and improve the capacity of port,” he says.
