A new report by Ministry of Shipping has said that Sagarmala project can save up to Rs 35,000-40,000 crore by 2025 per annum for India by optimizing logistics flows for key commodities. The study, published on the official website, says that augmenting operational efficiency of ports and optimizing logistics evacuation can be a big boost to Indian trade.
Citing the example of maritime nations such as China, South Korea and Japan, the report says that ‘port-led development’ can be effectively used to save money. The new project aims to augment operational efficiency of ports & optimizing of logistics evacuation can give boost to Indian trade and help seize the big opportunity of growth in Indian cargo traffic at ports which is estimated to increase to 2.5 bn MMTPA by 2025.
Key task identified for the new project includes promoting of coastal shipping of bulk commodities like coal, setting-up coastal clusters for bulk commodities like cement and steel and providing last-mile connectivity of ports with national highways and railway network.
The project also aims to establishing a new transshipment port, creating dedicated coastal berths ports for coastal shipping, setting up storage capacities at origin-destination ports to shorten turnaround time and developing adequate ship-repair facilities in the maritime states.
It also targets big savings on logistic costs and making Indian goods more competitive in the global markets and hence drive its port-led-development agenda under Sagarmala.
Sagarmala is India’s ambitious project through which a 7,500-km coastline will be built to give a $110 million boost to the merchandise exports and increase coastal shipping volumes by as much as five times of the current levels.
Nitin Gadkari, minister for shipping, road transport and highways, recently said that the project has a potential to create 10-million jobs. The National Perspective Programme for Sagarmala was launched here by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the month of April.