Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it is the right time to come to India and even better through the sea route.
“This is the right time to come to India. It is even better to come through the sea route. The Indian ship is well equipped for a long haul,” he said at the Maritime India Summit 2016 in Mumbai on April 14.
“I call upon the global business community to partner with us to give shape to our process of port led development,” said Modi to some 4,500 delegates from 40 countries are attending the inaugural summit.
Elaborating on the Indian development, he said shipyards are being given Infrastructure status, at par with the ports, while rebate of service tax on coastal shipping has been increased to seventy per cent.
“We have granted customs duty and central excise exemption on inputs used in ship building, and a scheme of financial assistance to promote ship building has been approved,” he said.
Customs and central excise duties have been exempted on bunker fuel for Indian flagged container ships, tax issues of sea farers have been resolved and a new company, Indian Port Rail Corporation, has been established to focus on the last mile connectivity to ports.
“We have enacted a legislation for declaring one hundred and eleven waterways as National Waterways,” he stressed.
However, this is just the beginning. We want to do more. We are enhancing our own capacities of execution and implementation.
The National Perspective Plan of the Sagarmala Programme was released on April 14, 2016.
During the last two years, major ports have awarded 56 new Projects involving an investment of more than 250 billion rupees. This will create an additional port capacity of 317 million tonnesper annum.
“Our vision is to increase port capacity from 1,400 million tonnes to 3,000 million tonnes by 2025. We want to mobilize an investment of one lakh crore, or one trillion rupees, in the Port Sector to enable this growth,” he said.
Five new ports are planned to meet the increasing demand of the export-import trade which will rise in proportion with the fast-growing Indian economy.
New ports are also being developed by several coastal States of India.
The multiple measures to promote Coastal Shipping coupled with the anticipated rise in domestic production of coal, is expected to enhance coastal transportation of coal by at least four fold by 2025.
“We are engaging with our immediate and regional neighbours to promote shipping and maritime security,” said the Prime Minister.
Recently India has signed a Coastal Shipping Agreement with Bangladesh which will be mutually beneficial.
India is also engaged in the development of Chahbahar Port in Iran.
A special purpose vehicle by the name India Ports Global Limited has been established to take up Maritime Projects overseas, he announced.
The Ministry of Shipping is showcasing about 250 projects with investment opportunity in the Maritime Sector. These projects include various infrastructure development opportunities in 12 Major Ports, projects in eight maritime states and other agencies.
Of these, over 100 projects have been identified under the Sagarmala Programme which was launched on April 14, 2016.
With more than 14,000 kilometers of navigable inland waterways in the country, there is tremendous potential for development in this sector, said Modi. fii-news.com
