Sagarmala – Seven years of Spectacular Success

What is the News?

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has organized an event to commemorate the successful seven years of the Sagarmala program.

What is the Sagarmala Programme?

Launched in: 2015 by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways

Aim: To promote port-led development in the country through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.

Vision: To reduce logistics costs for EXIM and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment.

Components of the Sagarmala Programme 

– Port Modernization & New Port Development: Debottlenecking and capacity expansion of existing ports and development of new greenfield ports

– Port Connectivity Enhancement: Enhancing the connectivity of the ports to the hinterland, optimizing cost and time of cargo movement through multi-modal logistics solutions including domestic waterways (inland water transport and coastal shipping)

– Port-linked Industrialization: Developing port-proximate industrial clusters and Coastal Economic Zones to reduce logistics cost and time of EXIM and domestic cargo

– Coastal Community Development: Promoting sustainable development of coastal communities through skill development & livelihood generation activities, fisheries development, coastal tourism etc.

– Coastal Shipping & Inland Waterways Transport: Impetus to move cargo through the sustainable and environment-friendly coastal and inland waterways mode.

About the projects under Sagarmala

Sagarmala projects include projects from various categories such as modernisation of existing ports and terminals, new ports, terminals, RoRo & tourism jetties, enhancement of port connectivity, inland waterways, lighthouse tourism, industrialization around the port, skill development, technology centres among others.

– These projects are implemented through a stepped approach, with the first attempt on implementing the projects through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) wherever feasible.

– However, projects which have a high social and economic quotient but low Internal Rate of Return(IRR) are being implemented through funding support.

Achievements of the Programme

The Quality service delivery has made Turnaround Time (containers) at Ports come down to 26.58 hours from 44.70 hours in 2013-14.

A total of 29 projects have been successfully implemented under the PPP model, thus reducing the financial burden on the exchequer. 

Source: This post is based on an article “Sagarmala – Seven years of Spectacular Success” published in PIB on 25th March 2022.