Rawalpir Lighthouse inaugurated! From better port facilities to tourism boost, see benefits here

Rawalpir Lighthouse: Recently, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the Rawalpir Lighthouse in Mandvi. According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, the speed of the Maritime industry is accelerating at the speed of Gati Shakti programme, which was recently launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The inauguration of the lighthouse at Rawalpir in Mandvi will not only increase Port Facility but will also give a boost to tourism, the ministry said. The Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways was joined by MP Vinod Chavda, MLA Virendrasinh Jadeja, other officials and dignitaries.

After inaugurating the Lighthouse, Sonowal said that his ministry is developing 75 lighthouses across the country as tourist destinations. By the end of this year, lighthouses at Veraval, Dwarka, and Gopnath will be completed and 17 more lighthouses will also be developed in the state of Gujarat in PPP (public-private partnership) mode.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways had laid the Foundation Stone for various capacity augmentation projects at Deendayal Port at Kandla a few days ago, which included:

• Two Dome Shaped Godowns which are to be developed within a year. This will increase the capacity of covered storage by 1.45 lakh metric tonnes at Rs 36 crore cost.
• Oil Jetty Number 8 at Old Kandla, worth Rs 99 crore, which will be developed in a time period of 18 months and increase the optimal capacity of Port by 3.50 MMTPA as well as reduce the waiting period turnaround time of vessels.
• Development of Parking Plaza for Trucks or Vehicles along with ancillary facilities such as garage, canteen, rest shelter, etc., for pre-gate verification of documents in order to ease vehicles’ congestion at the gates corresponding with digital initiatives like EBS and RFID being installed at these gates at Rs 14.59 crore cost.
• Existing Pipeline Network’s modernization at a cost of Rs 126.50 crore has also been taken up. This will increase the optimal capacity from 8 to 23.8 MMTPA.