 "Consultation meetings for Sagarmala Project kick off from Gujarat")
A consortium of reputed international consultants has been taken on board by the Ministry of Shipping to take this project forward. The project is expected to focus on coastal area development, integrated planning of port regions, rail-road connectivity, tourism, fisheries, island development and skill building in coastal region.
According to a Gujarat Maritime Board release, "Since many of these areas are State subjects, a close tie-up of centre and state is proposed for the successful implementation of this project. In an effort to reach out to the state governments, the Ministry of Shipping has proactively initiated state level consultation meets to be organized in all the maritime states. The first meeting was held in Gujarat at the office of Gujarat Maritime Board on Wednesday, June 24, 2015."
The meeting was chaired by A K Srivastava, additional secretary, ministry of shipping.
Since the Sagarmala project involves multi-facet development that falls under the purview of different departments, senior officials from various state government departments like home, tourism, road & building, industries, railways, coastguard just to name a few were present during the meet. Representatives from private port operators, trade associations, logistics players, freight forwarders, universities, training institutes and port ancillary industries were also present during the consultative meet.
According to a GMB spokesperson, Gujarat was asked to identify projects which could be taken up under the Sagarmala project, and it has suggested some projects across the dedicated freight corridor (DFC) project that passes through the state. The development of the identified and shortlisted projects would be undertaken on the various PPP models to the extent possible. The release further stated, "Only priority projects would be funded from equity to be put by the Sagarmala Company that would be formed within a few coming months."
Vice-chairman and CEO of GMB, A K Rakesh, explained how Gujarat has over the years laid down the necessary policy framework for effective port led-development in the state. He also provided the details of various projects of GMB that could form a part of the Sagarmala initiative such as maritime cluster, bunkering terminal, maritime university, rail connectivity and coastal shipping.