As many as 272 projects, worth around Rs. 1.41 lakh crores, have been completed under the Centre’s flagship Sagarmala programme out of which 103 completed projects under the “modernisation pillar” have resulted in expanding the country’s port capacity by more than 528 million tonnes per annum, the Parliament was informed.
Sagarmala programme is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways to promote port-led development km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal in the country through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.
There was a total of 839 projects worth Rs 5.79 lakh crores included in the Sagarmala Programme. These are categorised into five pillars – port modernisation, port connectivity, port-led industrialisation, coastal community development, and coastal shipping & inland water transport, the minister said.
These projects are implemented by the Central Ministries, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Indian Railways, state governments and major ports, etc. Coastal Community Development is a dedicated pillar of the Sagarmala programme. This pillar focuses on improving the living standards of the coastal communities by enhancing their livelihood opportunities, primarily through skill development, capacity building, and increasing access to sustainable economic activities, Sonowal said.
Under the Sagarmala programme, a comprehensive skill gap study was conducted across 21 coastal districts in 9 states and 3 Union Territories, including Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and MoPSW have entered into an MoU in May 2017 to enable the skilling of the coastal population under the DDU-GKY Sagarmala Convergence Programme. Phase I of this convergence was implemented on a pilot basis between 2016-2018 in 5 states, viz. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. A total of 2,079 candidates have been trained, out of whom 1,243 have been placed, the minister stated.
In answer to another question, the minister said that the Centre has plans to develop four port clusters, including the Cochin-Vizhinjam Port cluster, Galathea South Bay Port, Chennai-Kamarajar-Cuddalore Port cluster, Paradip and other non-major ports cluster with a capacity of more than 300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and two port clusters, namely, Deendayal and Tuna Tekra Port cluster, Jawaharlal Nehru-Vadhavan Port cluster with capacity of more than 500 MTPA are to be developed as mega ports by the year 2047.
