The Shipping Ministry has sought land from the West Bengal government for setting up a coastal employment zone (CEZ), an official said.
Setting up CEZs across the country will promote port- led development conceived under the 'Sagarmala' project of the government.
The ministry is in talks with the state government for getting the land, Director (Sagarmala), Shipping Ministry, Abhishek Chandra said at a BCCI event here on Friday.
Under the plan, the state government will give the land as equity while funding will be done by the Centre.
"CEZs will be set up using the challenge methodology of Niti Aayog," Chandra said.
Under this system, all projects under different ministries will be rated on more than a half-dozen parameters on a scale of zero-to-100 and the state that gets the highest score will get the project automatically.
Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Gujarat have already given land for the project while talks are also on with the Maharashtra government, the official said.
Regarding coastal shipping, he said that the target is to take the quantum of cargo handling from six per cent to 12 per cent by 2025.
Presently, more than 2000 million tonnes of cargo is handled through coastal shipping which is a cheaper mode than rail or road, Chandra said.
The official said that the government had already spent Rs one lakh crore for port modernisation which will unlock 80 million tonnes of the capacity of Indian ports.
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