It is to address this lack that Sea King Infrastructure Ltd (SKIL), thepromoters of the Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd (GPPL), has entered into astrategic alliance with the International Maritime Transport Academy (IMTA)and Shipping and Transport College (STC) of The Netherlands to set up amulti-level, world-class maritime academy at Positra in Jamnagar district,Gujarat, along the lines of the country's IITs and IIMs. The institute, tobe called the Gujarat Maritime Academy, will be set up at a cost of Rs 70crore.

For this a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has already been inked betweenSKIL chairman Nikhil Gandhi and ITMA chairman Erik Hietbrink in the presenceof the Gujarat chief minister, Keshubhai Patel.

Speaking on the occasion, Patel said that the setting up of such aninstitute had been waiting in the wings since the announcement of thestate's port policy in 1995. The state government had decided to develop 10greenfield sites as direct berthing sea ports in the private or jointsector, he added. As per the MoU, the autonomous residential academy wouldimpart a full-time Masters of Business Administration (MBA) course withspecialisation in ports and marine management under ITMA certification. Inall, it proposed to train about 300 students per year for diploma, graduateand Master's courses in merchant maritime, inland water transport,distribution and logistics, ship-building, dredging and fisheries.

On the occasion, Hietbrink said, "The financial closure of the project isexpected to be achieved in 8-9 months and the academy will begin operationsin two years." He is also hopeful of getting loans from the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) for financing the joint venture project.

Hietbrink, who is also the chairman of STC, added that he would ensure thatthe best of the faculty and facilities of both the colleges, IMTA and STC,was made available to the Gujarat Maritime Academy.

STC was founded in 1833 in Rotterdam as Europe's largest and mostspecialised and sophisticated maritime training institute. IMTA, on theother hand, was set up more recently in 1981 in Den Helder with the primeobjective of imparting maritime training to students from all over theworld. The two institutions provide training in as many as 280 professionalcourses and trades.

Hietbrink noted that in Europe alone, about 1,000 trained personnel wererequired every year by the maritime industry. "At present, IMTA is settingup such maritime colleges in the Baltic countries, South Africa, Oman andVietnam and has set its eyes on India for providing experts to designsoftware programmes for the maritime industry," he added.

SKIL chairman Gandhi said that in the absence of such an institute in thecountry, SKIL had been sponsoring students for training at IMTA, STC and theMaastricht School of Management over the last few years and then absorbingthem at its Pipavav and other port projects. He exuded confidence that thenew academy, with its state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities, would beready in 24 months.

The Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), the state government's nodal agency whichmanages 41 intermediate and small ports on the state's 1,600-km-longcoastline, is also taking a keen interest in the early implementation of theproject.