Rs 95,000 crore projects for Maha shores: Will it add shine to state's port sector?

Maharashtra is set to get Rs 95,000 crore port related projects under Centre’s ambitious port and port-led development programme.  Addressing a Video-Link Press Conference of Coastal States from Mumbai today, the Union Minister for Shipping, Nitin Gadkari said the mega projects include two expressways connecting Ahmedabad–Mumbai industrial corridor and the Sanathnagar Industrial cluster near Hyderabad with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT)  in Navi Mumbai. Gadkari said while the Ahmedabad Expressway project would cost Rs 18,000 crores, the Hyderabad – Mumbai project is likely to be implemented at Rs 22,000 crores cost.  In addition, a new green field port is being set up at Wadhavan near Dahanu with an investment outlay of Rs 9,300 crores, Gadkari said. Gadkari announced that as part of the port based industrialization programme a steel cluster will be coming up in Southern Maharashtra / Goa region with an investment potential of Rs 10,500 crores. There is also a proposal to set up a port based mega food park , also in Southern Maharashtra, he added. Earlier in January, the government had cleared a revised port development policy that will be in force for five years creating connectivity through rail, road and water transport network. Gadkari said the government had resolved to increase the share of water transport as means of providing competitive logistics support for the ‘Make in India’ program’. The Minister said the government is aiming to attract Rs 4 lakh crores of investment in development, port connectivity and inland water transport sector under the ambitious Sagarmala project. He said more than 140 agreements worth Rs 83,000 crores were signed during the Maritime India Summit held in Mumbai in April 2016. However, experts have raised doubts on the government’s ambitious port connectivity and inland water transport sector as it has not focussed on operations.