Shipping ministry to now include ports, inland waterways

Prime Minister Modi also on Sunday inaugurated the Ro-Pax terminal at Hazira and flagged off the Ro-Pax ferry service between Hazira and Ghogha in Gujarat through video conferencing. He also interacted with the local users.

Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister said the Ro-Pax service is a Diwali gift to the people of Gujarat. Everyone will benefit from this better connectivity, he said, adding that business will be boosted and connectivity will become faster. He further said Ro-Pax service between Hazira and Ghogha has made dreams come true for the people of Saurashtra and South Gujarat, as the journey has been shortened from 10-12 hours to 3-4 hours. He said this will save time and reduce expenses. He said about 80,000 passenger trains and 30,000 trucks will be able to take advantage of this new service in a year.

Modi said better connectivity between Saurashtra and Surat will change the life of the people in these regions. Fruits, vegetables and milk can now easily be transported without adding to pollutionhesaid and thanked all those engineers, workers, who remained courageous to develop the facility amidst a lot of challenges. He wished the people for this new maritime connectivity established between Bhavnagar and Surat.

The prime minister lauded the way Gujarat realised its maritime potential in the last two decades and gave priority to port led development. He listed the initiatives of the state government in developing the maritime potential of the state like drafting a shipbuilding policy, construction of shipbuilding park and specialized terminals, promotion of vessel traffic management system and groundbreaking connectivity project. He said with these initiatives the port sector has got a new direction. He stressed that efforts are also being made to modernise the entire ecosystem of the coastal area in addition to developing the physical infrastructure.

Gujarat has become a gateway of prosperity due to the efforts of the government in ensuring the development of all types of infrastructure in the coastal area. He said over the past two decades, a unique model of integrated port has evolved from traditional port operations in Gujarat and has developed as a benchmark today. He said the result of these efforts is that the ports of Gujarat have emerged as major maritime centers of the country. Last year, it accounted for more than 40 per cent of the country's total maritime trade.

The prime minister noted that maritime business-related infrastructure and capacity building in Gujarat is in full swing. Many facilities are getting ready like the Gujarat Maritime Cluster, Gujarat Maritime University and country’s first CNG Terminal at Bhavnagar. 

The Gujarat Maritime cluster ports, to be built in GIFT city, would be a dedicated system to address ports to sea based logistics. He said that these clusters would help in strengthening cooperation between the government, industry and educational institutions and will also help in value addition in this sector.

The prime minister noted that in the recent past India’s first chemical terminal was established in Dahej, India got its first LNG terminal, and now India's first CNG terminal is going to be installed at Bhavnagar Port. In addition, facilities like Ro-Ro terminal at Bhavnagar port, liquid cargo terminal and a new container terminal are being prepared. He said with the addition of these new terminals, the capacity of Bhavnagar port will increase manifold.

The prime minister said the government is making efforts to restart the ferry service between Ghogha-Dahej very soon. He said many natural challenges have arisen in this project and efforts are being made to remove them through modern technology. 

Further, the PM said, Gujarat Maritime University is a big centre for getting trained manpower and experts for maritime trade. Today, this university provides opportunities to pursue maritime law and international trade law and also MBA in Maritime Management, Shipping and Logistics. He said apart from the university, work is also going on to build the first National Museum to preserve the country's maritime heritage in Lothal.

The prime minister said facilities like today's Ro-Pax ferry service or the sea plane service inaugurated a few days ago will give great momentum to water-resource based economy. He said that over the years, serious efforts have also been made to strengthen the Blue Economy in the country. He listed the ecosystems and many schemes made over the years to help the fishermen like financial aid to fishermen for modern trollers or navigation systems that provide accurate information of weather and sea routes. He assured that safety and prosperity of fishermen is the priority of the Government. He added recently launched Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana is also promoting fish related trade. Under this scheme, Rs20,000 crore would be spent for infrastructure related to fisheries in the coming years.

The PM said port capacity in the country has increased and construction of new ports is also going on at a faster pace. Efforts are on to put maximum use of about 21,000 km of waterway in the country, for the development of the country. He said, under the Sagarmala project, work is going on over 500 projects across the country. He said waterways are many times cheaper than transport via road and railways and also causes less pollution. This will also help cnnect land-locked regions to te sea. 

Modi noted that the country is now making rapid strides in the direction of multimodal connectivity to reduce logistics costs and efforts have been made to improve connectivity between road, rail, air and shipping infrastructure and also to overcome the silos. He said multimodal logistics parks are being constructed in the country. He added that multimodal connectivity is being developed with neighbouring countries also. He said these efforts would helo bring down logistics costs in the country and give impetus to the economy.