Seven Years of Sagarmala Programme

 Sagarmala Programme UPSC: Relevance

• GS 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

सागरमाला कार्यक्रम के सात वर्ष

 Sagarmala Programme: Context

• Recently, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways organized an event to commemorate successful seven years of Sagarmala program.

Success of Sagarmala programme

• The highlight of the event was showcasing the exemplary performance, the flagship program of Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has achieved during the last 7 years.
• Quality service delivery has made Turnaround Time (containers) at Ports come down to 58 hours from 44.70 hours in 2013-14.
• The report card of Ministry showcases 802 projects worth Rs. 5.48 lakh Crore under the Sagarmala program targeted to be executed by 2035 out of which 194 projects worth Rs. 99,000 Crore have been completed.
• A total of 29 projects worth Rs. 45,000 Crore have been successfully implemented under PPP model, thus, reducing the financial burden on the exchequer.
• Skill development: Centre of Excellence in Maritime and Shipbuilding (CEMS) which has trained over 5000 candidates in 50+ courses since inception.
• Port connectivity, another important element of the program, has 80 projects under its ambit.

What is Sagarmala project?

• The Sagarmala programme is the flagship progamme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways to promote port-led development in the country by taking advantage 14,500 km long potentially navigable waterways and the strategic location on major maritime trade routes.
• The core vision of the Sagarmala programme is to reduce the logistics cost for EXIM (Export Import) and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment.
• The concept of Sagarmala was approved by the Union Cabinet on 25th March, 2015.
• The National Perspective Plan (NPP) was released for the holistic development of the Indian Coastline and Maritime Sector on 14th April, 2016.

Sagarmala Programme objectives

• Reducing cost of transporting domestic cargo through optimizing modal mix
• Lowering logistics cost of bulk commodities by locating future industrial capacities near the coast
• Improving export competitiveness by developing port proximate discrete manufacturing clusters
• Optimizing time/cost of EXIM container movement.

Components of Sagarmala Programme

• Port Modernization & New Port Development: De-bottlenecking 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.

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