Govt has pipeline of 44 port projects worth Rs 22,900 cr till 2025: Sonowal

Govt is working on the guidelines for dealing with stressed public-private partnership (PPP) projects at major ports and has also come up with policies to support the shipbuilding industry in India

Public-private partnership in port infrastructure has been an important source of investment in the sector and the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has a pipeline of 44 projects for total investment of Rs 22,900 crore till 2024-25, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Tuesday.

Moreover, the government is working on the guidelines for dealing with stressed public-private partnership (PPP) projects at major ports and has also come up with policies to support the shipbuilding industry in India, Sonowal said.

"The Ministry of Port, Shipping and Waterways is working on two fronts to encourage private sector participation... On the project front the ministry has a pipeline of 44 projects for a total investment of Rs 22,900 crore till 2024-25," he told PTI.

On the policy front, the ministry is working on the Guidelines for dealing with stressed PPP projects at major ports, Sonowal said.

The Ports, Shipping and Waterways minister further said that under the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP), MoPSW has accorded approval to 22 projects worth Rs 12,222 crore. Out of the 22 projects, seven projects worth Rs 5,278 crore have already been awarded on PPP mode, rest projects are in various stages of bidding, he added.

According to him, the ministry is also working on the Captive Policy and Migration Policy (to new MCA and Tariff regime) to improve the ease of doing business and provide a conducive environment for private sector investments in the port sector.

Sonowal said under the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, MoPSW has identified 101 projects worth Rs 56,831 crore for implementation by 2024. "Out of these, 13 projects worth Rs 4,423 crore have been completed," he said, adding that 9 projects worth Rs 716 crore are expected to be completed by March 2023.

The Ports, Shipping and Waterways ministry has identified 9 High Impact Projects (HIP) and these have been uploaded in the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) portal and are being monitored at the Cabinet Secretariat level. Three HIP projects are already completed, he added.

Sonowal further said, apart from completing port modernisation and port connectivity projects, the ministry is expediting various projects under the Sagarmala programme related to RoRo/Ropax and passenger jetty facilities, and fishing harbor projects to improve the connectivity and livelihood of people living in coastal areas.

He said National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) at Lothal is being developed as one of its kind projects to display India's rich and diverse maritime heritage and the project is currently under implementation and all efforts are being undertaken to complete the first phase of this project by the end of 2023.

Sonowal said 191 port connectivity projects have been identified after coordination with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and railways ministries under Sagarmala which are in various stages of implementation and development.

Replying to a question on demand for restoration of subsidy for moving goods through Inland waterways in the NorthEast region, Sonowal said the earlier scheme of subsidy for moving goods through Inland waterways in the NorthEast region, was launched by Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) which was closed on March 31, 2022.

"However, in order to promote this mode of transport and to meet first mile, last mile and multiple handling of cargo issues while transporting through IWT mode, MoPSW will take up the matter for restoration of the scheme with MoCI for promoting the movement of goods through Inland waterways in the NorthEast region," he said.