Maritime India Summit: To invest Rs 1 lakh crore to double port capacity, says PM
The Centre has firmed up a comprehensive plan to increase India's port capacity to 3,000 million tonnes (MT) by 2025 from the present level of 1,400 million tonnes. To meet this target, the government has envisaged an investment of Rs 1 trillion to meet this target, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his inaugural speech at the maiden Maritime India Summit 2016 on Thursday. The proposed plan includes development of five new ports in addition to the existing 12 major ports and the ongoing development at three new ports, the Prime Minister said. A slew of initiatives, including the Sagarmala project — which will allow leveraging of the 7,500-km long coastline — will help revive and restore India's position in the global maritime sector, he added. Speaking about the initial efforts taken by the Centre, Modi said that major ports had added 165 million tonnes capacity with record addition each year in last two years. The traffic in major ports showed 4% growth ...