On a statement, on Tuesday, October 15, the Indian Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, said that the government is planning to put in place a comprehensive ‘Port Grid and Port Development’ plan for 204 minor ports throughout the country aiming to boost coastal shipping and inland waterways in six months, and further bring a Bill in Parliament to provide an uplift to major ports.
The Shipping Minister stated that
A Port Grid and Port Development plan will be ready in six months and will be given to state governments for development of their ports. The minor ports will support major ports…small cargo will reach to major ports from minor ports and boost EXIM cargo.
He further added that it would be state governments’ responsibility to decide the mode of development, including public private partnership model and that the “plan will be comprehensive, as states lack technical support and world-class guidance.”
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The need for the plan was felt as only 44 minor ports out of the 204 in total are fully operational. The decision in particular was taken at the 17th meeting of the Martime State Development Council (MSDC) where secretaries of states participated. MSDC is an apex advisory body for the development of maritime sector and aims to ensure integrated development of major and non-major ports.
The MSDC also discussed augmenting port security on a priority basis by scanning imported container cargos as well as internal ship movements.
Moreover, the Minister said that
A new Major Port Bill will be introduced in the Winter session of Parliament. Many powers will be bestowed on port chairman to take small decisions related to ports’ development. This will be done so that major ports can compete with other ports and all files should not reach the Ministry for decision.
Moreover, a ship recycling Bill is also expected to be introduced in the upcoming session of Parliament. Besides aiming to boost fisheries and further develop the blue economy, a decision was taken to boost cruise tourism and increase the international cruises calling on Indian ports from 200 to 1,000.
In fact, the Minister underlined that the government’s focus is on job creation and that there will be emphasis on the training of seafarers, looking at its potential.
He noted that
There are 2 lakh ships globally and the crew requirement is 50 lakh. This is an employment opportunity for Indian seafarers to earn in dollars …We have opened coastal state training institutes and the number of Indian seafarers have risen to 2.14 lakh from 94,000 in 2014.
Mandaviya said that current projects worth almost Rs 2.5 lakh crore are under the Sagarmala initiative. Namely, a multi-pronged strategy to improve the shipping sector will lead to a reduction in logistics costs at 14%, as compared to 9% globally.
In 2017, it was noted that the focus of the Indian Government was on improving efficiency of the ports and benchmarking them to international standards. Moreover, according to the World Bank report 2019 on Ease of Doing Business, India has jumped 23 ranks from 100 in 2017-18 to 77 in 2018-19, indicating the country’s continuing its shift towards global standards, mainly due to the reform agenda, which has made it the top-ranked economy in the region.
In particular, in May 2019, it was announced that Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) was aiming to invest as much as Rs 57,594 crore, in order to expand the cargo capacity of the Mundra Port, India’s biggest commercial port.
