Kolkata: The Union Government is prioritising maritime development to enable ports to identify and resolve bottlenecks in enhancing multimodal connectivity, stated Union Minister Of State Shantanu Thakur.
Addressing the PM GatiShakti Multimodal Maritime Summit on Wednesday, Thakur said the government, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ensuring the seamless movement of people and goods and driving it with key engines of growth, namely, railways, roads, ports, waterways, airports, mass transport and logistics.
Speaking about the PM GatiShakti masterplan, the Minister underscored that the initiative would accrue ‘huge benefits to the state government’ by streamlining project timeframes.
He noted that the Ministry of Ports has the most critical role in the master plan, and Kolkata, which hosts the country’s oldest port, could play a pivotal role in realising the goal ‘if we work together’.
Thakur also highlighted the targets for the ministry, underlining that assets spread across nine major ports have been considered for monetisation between FY22-25 under the National Monetisation Programme.
In addition, eleven industrial corridors and two defence industrial corridors are planned for development to improve the operational efficiency and capacity utilisation of existing port assets.
On occasion, P L Haranadh, Chairman, Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, emphasised harnessing the potential of India’s north-eastern states and noted that multimodal connectivity would be a win-win situation for both India and Bangladesh.
Gopal Krishna, Principal Program Advisor, Cross Border Infrastructure and Connectivity Program (CBIC), USAID and Former Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India, said PM GatiShakti will act as the facilitator to address the concerns of the manufacturing sector.
He said, “GatiShakti essentially is a conceptual regional framework to build infrastructure to provide seamless connectivity through multimodal means”.
In addition, Former Special Secretary & Financial Adviser, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Shambhu Singh, underscored PM GatiShakti as a revolutionary and timely step.
A K Mehera, Deputy Chairman (H), Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, gave the vote of thanks. About 200 people, including industry persons, policymakers and other stakeholders, attended the deliberations.
