To bring India's maritime administration on par with international standards, the government has constituted a think tank, which will advise the Directorate General of Shipping on how to adapt to best global practices and emerge as a dynamic organisation.
The 'Think Tank' headquartered in Mumbai, has been constituted by the orders of the Ministry of Shipping and would advise the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) on new ideas for the development and improvement of the maritime sector, an official told PTI.
"The Think Tank will generate contemporaneous and futuristic ideas and innovative techniques for reforming the DGS, GoI in terms of international best practices," he said.
It will suggest system improvements and business processes re-engineering in the DGS as a public service delivery organisation, to enable it to meet, as the national maritime administration in India, the future aspirations and challenges of the maritime industry globally, and also effectively sub-serve interests of stakeholders as a dynamic, evolving, progressive, response and smart organisational entity, the official said quoting the notification.
The body comprising maritime experts drawn from nautical, maritime engineering, naval architecture and other disciplines has been mandated to meet once in every two to three months.
The Director General, Joint Director General, Nautical Advisor, Chief Surveyor and Chief Ship Surveyor of the DGS have been made internal members of the body.
Logistics costs account for a large part of the country's
non-services GDP compared to benchmarks of 8-10 per cent for developed nations, as per the blueprint.
Citing an example, it said up to 100-150 MT of coal can be moved from the east coast to coastal power plants in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
In addition, up to 50 MT could be moved coastally for non-thermal coal users.
"There is potential to move steel, cement, fertilisers and foodgrains coastally to the extent of about 60 MT by 2025. Further, about 50 MT of petroleum products could be moved coastally from refining centres in Gujarat and Odisha to demand centres in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh," it said.
Government has identified over 150 projects under Sagarmala. It expects to mobilise more than Rs 4 lakh crore of investment, besides creation of 1 crore new jobs, including 40 lakh direct jobs, in the next 10 years.
These projects have been identified across the areas of port modernisation and new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-led industrial development and coastal community development.
The Cabinet approved Sagarmala project last year.
