Mumbai Port Trust proposes to develop land and waterfront

Mumbai Port proposes to develop its land and water front through a mix of port operations, business, office, commercial, retail, entertainment, community projects and convention centres, etc.

The port trust has about 752 HA of land in Mumbai city and its nearby areas. Out of this about 200 HA are currently used for port operations. Of the remaining, about 500 HA of land is proposed to be developed.

The proposed projects would also include renewable energy and waste water recycling, creation of spaces for community recreation and engagements, maritime museum, marinas, etc.

Mumbai Port has already invited global tender from eligible national / international consulting firms for 'appointment of consultant for planning, design and programme management support for master planning and infrastructure design of the Mumbai Port', minister of state for shipping Pon Radhakrishnan stated in the Lok sabha on Friday.

He said a committee set up under chairmanship of Rani Jadhav for preparing a road map for development of port's water front and land has submitted its report and the report is under examination of the ministry of shipping.

The minister also said as part of its initiative to develop inland shipping, the centre has decided to  undertake development of 37 national waterways (NWs) in the next three years.  Specified stretches of River Sutlej and Beas have been included in the list of declared NWs as NWs No 17 and 98, respectively, he added.

The decision to undertake development of national waterways, taken under the National Waterways Act, 2016, has been based on techno economic feasibility study and detailed project report, commissioned on each of them, by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the minister pointed out.

The the promotion of inland water transport (IWT) would have positive impact on reduction of overall logistics cost, resulting in significant saving.
 
Works on NW-1 (River Ganga) have been awarded under the Jal Marg Vikas Project for construction of multimodal terminals at Varanasi and Sahibganj and Navigational lock at Farakka and award of work for multimodal terminal at Haldia is in the final stage, he said.

On NW-2 (River Brahmaputra), Ro-Ro transportation between Dhubri and Hatsingamari has commenced and slipway facilities are being constructed at Pandu. Normal development works are ongoing on NW-3.
 
On NW-4, award for tender for dredging of shoals between Vijaywada and Muktiyala on River Krishna is in the final stage.

On NW-5, work for development of fairway in the non-tidal stretch between Erada and Padanipal has been awarded.

Tendering for award for projects on the remaining 32 NWs to be undertaken in the next three years will begin from November 2016 and go on till December 2018, he added.