Rs 2-trn projects to be completed by 2024 under Sagarmala plan: Sonowal

Sagarmala, the Centre’s flagship project for the development of ports and waterways infrastructure, has seen significant progress and projects worth Rs 2.12 trillion will be completed by 2024, Union minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said on Friday.

This is in addition to the Rs 99,000 crore worth of projects that have already been completed under the project till now, he said at an event celebrating seven years of Sagarmala, adding that 194 projects have been completed under the scheme. The Centre has identified a total of 802 projects under the programme at an estimated cost of Rs 5.48 trillion.

With the central government’s push towards port-led infrastructure development and de-congestion at major ports, the turnaround time at major ports has been reduced to 26.58 hours. The number is significantly down from over 44 hours in the financial year 2013-14, and slightly less than 27.38 hours in the last fiscal year, the minister said.

“This shows that we have provided quality service at our ports,” he added. The ministry intends to bring vessel turnaround time to under 20 hours in the near term.

Currently, major ports can handle 254.30 million tonne per annum (mtpa) against the traffic of 152.67 mtpa upto February. Major Ports are ready to handle increased exim trade in future due to availability of extra capacity, a shipping ministry official said.

Of the 218 development projects in the Sagarmala pipeline for 2024, 31 are under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, at an estimated cost of 50,000 crores, Bhushan Kumar, a senior ministry official said. Overall, 123 PPP projects worth Rs 2.63 trillion have been identified out of the total 802 projects envisaged under Sagarmala.

“We (the ministry) always focus on PPP first, so there will be plenty of opportunities for private players going forward,” Kumar added. The Centre is targeting the development of 14 new ports worth Rs 1.25 trillion under the Sagarmala project.

With the recently launched water taxi service from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai, the Centre also plans to collaborate with private players and local authorities to create 15 additional water taxi berths in the city.

Under Sagarmala, the Centre plans to achieve port modernization & new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-led industrialization and coastal community development.

While the initial plan was to build 14 coast economic zones (CEZs) for enhanced port connectivity through infrastructure development and freight-friendly expressways, some of the projects appear to have hit a wall as other crucial government initiatives such as Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) have also been envisaged along the same routes.

As per a reply by the minister in the Parliament, the national perspective plan for the development of CEZs is being modified to accommodate clashes with other infrastructure projects.

Sagarmala Project Breakdown

Stage	Amount (in Rs crores)	Number of Projects	Number of PPP
Completed	99,000	194	29
In Progress	212,801	218	31
Sanctioned	104,947	157	13
Detailed Project Report	56,429	138	25
Under Concept	76,004	95	25

Source: Ministry of Porsts, Shipping, and Waterways