NITI Aayog keen to develop Paradip-Dhamra as CEZs

Niti Aayog has shown interest to develop the Paradip-Dhamra cluster as one of the Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs).

Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog and other officials of the think tank held discussions with Odisha government officials about developing a CEZ in the state.

“Both Paradip and Dhamra are very good ports. Paradip is one of the fast-growing ports while Dhamra is performing very well. We have proposed to develop a maximum of three CEZs across the country and Odisha has very bright possibilities. An industrial zone that connects Paradip with Dhamra can help build exports apart from boosting local manufacturing”, said Kant.

“Investment potential in CEZs is very high; we need a minimum land of 50 square kms for developing the CEZs. We are going to visit the site in Odisha. We will study and analyse and then have talks with the chief minister”, he said.

The master planning for Paradip port is being done by Feedback Infra. For Dhamra port, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been engaged.

Under National Perspective Plan (NPP) of the Sagarmala Programme, the Ministry of Shipping has identified 14 CEZs along the coastline of the country. The CEZs are spatial economic regions spread over multiple coastal districts with strong port linkage. 

Within each CEZ, there could be multiple industrial clusters that could contain industrial units with requisite support infrastructure.

The potential sites are Kandla, Pipavav and Dahej in Gujarat, JNPT in Mumbai, Dighi-Jaigarh-Mormugao in Goa, New Mangalore in Karnataka, Cochin-Tuticorin in Kerala, Karaikal, Chennai, Kamarajar and Katupalli in Tamil Nadu, Krishnapatnam, Vizag and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Paradip-Dhamra in Odisha and Kolkata-Haldia in West Bengal.