Sagarmala Development Company incorporated

The ministry of shipping on Thursday announced the incorporation of the Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) under the Companies Act, 2013, as part of the efforts to promote port-led development in the country.

The company will have an initial authorised share capital of Rs1,000 crore and a subscribed share capital of Rs90 crore, the shipping ministry stated.

The company will identify port-led development projects under the Sagarmala programme and provide equity support for the project special purpose vehicles (SPVs) set up by the ports or central and state governments and act as funding window or implementing agency for those residual projects which cannot be funded by any other means.

The union cabinet had, in July, approved the formation of the SDC under the administrative control of the ministry of shipping. The company will help in structuring activities, bidding out projects for private sector participation, identifying suitable risk management measures for strategic projects across multiple states and regions and obtaining requisite approvals and clearances.

The projects identified will be implemented by the relevant ports, state governments / maritime boards, central ministries, through private or PPP mode. SDC will act as the nodal agency for coordination and monitoring of all identified projects under Sagarmala as well as other projects emerging from the master plans or other sources.

It would undertake the preparation of the detailed master plans for the coastal economic zones (CEZs) identified as part of the National Perspective Plan (NPP) and provide a framework for ensuring the integrated development of Indian maritime sector.

It would also manage the funding of coastal community development projects identified under Sagarmala.

This will include projects related to value addition in fisheries, aquaculture, cold chain development, skill development, livelihood generation, local tourism and recreational facilities etc, which would be beneficial to the livelihoods of the coastal communities.

The projects considered would be specific time-bound local interventions, innovative in nature and not covered under other existing Central / State Government schemes.  

SDC would be raising funds as debt / equity (as long term capital), as per the project requirements, by leveraging resources provided by the government of India and from multi-lateral and bilateral funding agencies. It would also aim at increasing the scope of private sector participation in project development.

The incorporation of SDC is part of the government's ambitious Sagarmala Programme, which aims to harness India's 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.

The concept of the Sagarmala Programme was approved by the cabinet in March 2015. As part of the programme, a National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the comprehensive development of the coastline and maritime sector has been prepared.

The NPP has identified more than 150 projects across the areas of port modernisation and new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-led industrialisation and coastal community development.