Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday unveiled a blueprint for the Indian maritime blue economy till 2047. He also launched projects worth Rs 23,000 crore aligned with the maritime blueprint.
Inaugurating the third edition of the Global Maritime India Summit 2023 in Mumbai virtually, the PM underlined the importance of sea trade towards making India the third largest economy in the world.
The new blueprint ‘Amrit Kaal Vision 2047,' unveiled by Modi, outlines strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing port facilities, promoting sustainable practices, and facilitating international collaboration.
Addressing the summit, Modi emphasized the transformative impact of the proposed India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor and highlighted the government's efforts to strengthen the maritime sector, including doubling the capacity of major ports, improving port connectivity, and modernizing coastal shipping modes. He also mentioned the growth of cargo handling in national waterways and India's improvement in the Logistics Performance Index.
Saying that the proposed India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor would transform the picture of global trade, the PM said that the next generation mega port, international container trans-shipment port, island development, inland waterways, and multi-modal hub will be undertaken under this to reduce business cost and environmental degradation.
The PM said, "In the last decade, the capacity of major ports in India has doubled, and turnaround time for big vessels has come down to less than 24 hours as compared to 42 hours in 2014."
Modi also mentioned the construction of new roads to increase port connectivity and touched upon the Sagarmala Project to strengthen coastal infrastructure.
On the occasion, The PM laid the foundation stone of the Tuna Tekra all-weather deep draft terminal, to be built at a cost of more than Rs 4,500 crore at Deendayal Port Authority in Gujarat. This state-of-the-art greenfield terminal will be developed in PPP mode.
