Maritime India Summit

Maharashtra attracts investments across facets of maritime sector at Maritime India Summit

by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai, April 15, 2016: Maharashtra Maritime Board  today inked pacts with several companies to develop port led projects across its coast in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the Maritime India Summit on Friday.

Projects include:

·Setting up of a separate captive jetty at Revdanda by Indo Energy International for thermal power project as also by JSW Infrastructure for its steel project - Rs 1640 crore investment

·RORO service, LNG terminal and PVC plant at Dighi Port - Rs 1200 crore investment

·Development of jetty at Mankhurd near Sion -Panvel road by Yogayatan group and a floatel in Mumbai by WB International - Rs 7400 crore investmment in phases.

JNPT also signed a pact at the same venue with MTDC for an amphibian bus service in Mumbai which will be procured by JNPT and operated by MTDC.

JNPT also signed 24 other MOUs worth several crores at the summit. These include: Food and steel processing unit by Roopam group at Jalna for Rs 135 crore, Development of Free Trade Warehousing Zone by LMJ Logistics for Rs 100 crore, Ihina Industrial & Logistics Park Private Limited for Rs 200 crore, JWR Logistics Pvt. Ltd for Rs 250 crore, Arshiya Ltd for Rs 500 crore, Monopoly Innovations for a Bio diesel project for Rs 759 crore, & Edible oil and bio diesel project by Emami Agrotech Ltd for Rs 475 crore.

Speaking at the session, Chief Minister Fadnavis said, “Maharashtra has come with a new Port Policy with 360 degree approach that covers all the facets of maritime business and the basis of the policy is ease of doing business. Port led development has huge potential but was untapped.”

Accepting the policy of Swiss challenge, Maharashtra has identified several locations where green field port can come up and investors will have a claim for their innovative ideas and concepts for such projects, Fadnavis said.

Connecting Nagpur with JNPT through a super expressway across 14 districts, Fadnavis said it will seamlessly connect the region and change the state of the economy as the entire stretch of super expressway will be developed as an economic zone accomplishing the dream of port led development. 

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said, “We have investment promotion policy wherein we encourage investment that are environment friendly and open up employment avenues. In the past 14 months, we have approved 84 projects that are expected to generate employment for 50,000 persons in five years.”

Goa also intends to develop one marina each in two of its districts along with development of Chapora river, Parsekar said. 

Government aims to reduce logistic 

costs under Sagarmala Project

 High logistical cost prevailing in India is the biggest hindrance for Indian businesses on the global level and the Ministry of Shipping will aim to reduce the cost under the Sagarmala Project, said  Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, on the second day of the Maritime India Summit 2016.

“The logistic cost in India, at present, is 18% while its 8% in China. We aim to reduce it to 10% under Sagarmala project," Gadkari said, adding multi-pronged programme to improve hinterland connectivity can resolve the acute logistical problems faced by the transport sector.

There are proposals for investment to the tune of Rs 4 lakh crore to improve rail and road connectivity for container movement. The surface transport ministry has partnered with railways to improve freight transportation.

Gadkari said the government intends to move all the godowns from the cities to outskirts, along the 300 ring roads in all the cities.

"Traffic congestion is the major issue when it comes to transport of goods from godowns to the cities to railway yards or docks. We want to move these godowns close to ring roads for ease of transportation," he said.

He informed that the proposed SEZ near JNPT will attract investment of Rs4000 Crore and create around 1.5 lakh jobs. Apart from this, massive investments to the tune of Rs 8 lakh crore will be made in various industrial clusters in the country.

"With the road construction speed of 20 km per day, which is for the first time in the history, I am confident to create a world class road network to facilitate seamless goods transport," Gadkari said, adding, "with the launch of Sagarmala project, we have opened our cards. Global investors can now choose and pick from the sector they want to invest in."

Minister of State for Railways, Manoj Sinha assured all possible help from his ministry to improve hinterland connectivity. "We have created Special Purpose Vehicles to carryout various developmental works and to establish coordination with surface transport and shipping ministries for speedy implementation of the projects," Sinha said.