Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi Gati Shakti National Master Plan, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has identified 101 projects to enhance port connectivity with consumption and production centers, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Thursday (November 26).
Sonowal was addressing an event organised by the industry body, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) virtually and the Ports, Shipping, and Waterways minister further said as many as 111 waterways, spread over 24 states in the country, have been declared as national waterways.
“Lowering logistics costs is critical for India. Our government is taking several steps to strengthen the logistics ecosystem across the country.”
“The Ports, Shipping and Waterways ministry has identified 101 projects under PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan to enhance port connectivity with consumption and production centres,” he said.
Sonowal said, the government’s infrastructure plans like Sagarmala, Bharatmala (that aims to lay a grid of highways across India), Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), are at various stages of implementation and under the Sagarmala project, the ministry will provide financial support to state governments for port infrastructure development and skill development programs.
He said the aim behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi Gati Shakti National Master Plan is for multi-modal connectivity to reduce logistics costs.
On October 13, PM Modi launched a ₹ 100 lakh crore national master plan for multi-modal connectivity to develop infrastructure to reduce logistics costs and boost the economy so the country’s maritime sector plays a crucial role in its overall trade and growth that could lead to increased efficiency in supply chain and logistics to help achieve the target of USD 5 trillion economies by 2025.
“Our efforts in the past couple of years have started bringing results… the investment in ports have increased over the last five years,” he said.
He said that the government is proactively encouraging private sector participation in the development and operation of port infrastructure and already investment in ports has touched an all-time high of USD 2.35 billion by 2020.
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