Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the Maritime Transport Ministry is being expanded and renamed the Ministry of Ports, Navigation and Inland Waterways.
He was heading to a meeting after launching a Ro-Pax ferry service between Hazira in Surat and Ghogha in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, which will reduce the distance from 370 km between the two locations to 90 km by sea route.
The service will also reduce travel time between the two locations to about four hours from 10 to 12 hours.
Modi said that work is under way for the country’s maritime zone to emerge as an important part of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-sufficient India).
“To boost the government’s effort, a great step is being taken. Now, the Ministry of Navigation is renamed the Ministry of Ports, Navigation and Inland Waterways ”, he said.
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“It (the ministry) is expanding. In developed economies, in most places, the shipping ministry also deals with ports and waterways. In India, the shipping ministry does a lot of work related to ports and waterways. Clarity in the name will also bring clarity at work, ”he added.
He also said that the new Ro-Pax ferry service launched on Sunday will reduce the distance between Bhavnagar and Surat, which is around 375 km by road, to 90 km by sea route.
This will also cut travel time from 10 to 12 hours to three to four hours, he said.
“The service will help people save time and costs and will also reduce traffic congestion on the roads and reduce pollution,” Modi said.
The three-story Ro-Pax Ferry Voyage Symphony connecting Hazira in Surat district in southern Gujarat and Ghogha in Saurashtras Bhavnagar has a cargo capacity of 30 trucks, 100 passenger cars and 500 passengers plus 34 crew and staff. of hospitality, according to a statement. Previously published by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The ferry will make three trips a day, carrying five lakh passengers, 80,000 passenger vehicles, 50,000 two-wheelers and 30,000 trucks annually, according to the statement.
Modi said that to strengthen the ‘blue economy’, it is important to strengthen the logistics related to the sea.
Compared to other countries, the cost of transporting goods from one part to another is high in India even today.
Through transportation by water, this (cost) can be drastically reduced, he said.
“Therefore, our goal is to create an ecosystem of this type in which a smooth movement of cargo is guaranteed. Today, for better maritime logistics together with better infrastructure, we are working on a single window system, ”he said.
“To reduce the cost of logistics, the country is moving forward with a holistic and long-term vision of multimodal connectivity. The effort is to improve connectivity between road, rail, air and maritime infrastructure by eliminating silos between them, ”said the prime minister.
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He said that multimodal parks are being built not only in India, but also in neighboring countries.
“With all these efforts, we will be able to reduce the cost of logistics. These efforts will also give a new direction to the economy, ”he said.
Modi said the country always had resources and experience in waterways, but previous governments lacked the vision to use them, despite the fact that waterway transport is much cheaper compared to road and rail, and causes minimal adverse effect on the environment.
“Despite this, it was only after 2014 that a holistic approach was worked in this direction. These rivers and seas existed even before Modi became prime minister.
What was missing was the vision that the country has lived after 2014, ”he said.
Modi said that to boost the ‘blue economy’ and the fishing business, his government also focused on fishermen and has created the ‘Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana’ with an outlay of Rs 30,000 crore to help improve the fishing infrastructure.
“Today, the port capacity of the coastal areas throughout the country is being increased and new ports are being built. Efforts are being made to ensure that the 21,000 km ‘jal marg’ (waterways) are used for the development of the country, ”he said.
For this, it is working on more than 500 projects under ‘Sagarmala’. Many of these projects worth billions of rupees are ready, he said.
Modi said that Gujarat accounted for more than 40 percent of the country’s total trade through the sea route last year.
Work is underway at a rapid pace to create infrastructure and capacity building for sea routes, such as maritime clusters and maritime universities, as well as the world’s first CNG terminal in Bhavnagar, he said.
The Gujarat Maritime Cluster to be presented at the GIFT City (Gujarat International Financial Technology City) in Gandhinagar will be a dedicated system to address port and seaway logistics, he said.
“This will help add value to this sector,” said the prime minister.
India’s first LNG and chemical terminal was built at Dahej in Gujarat, he said, adding that a Ro-Ro (roll on roll off) terminal, a liquid cargo terminal and a container terminal are being installed in Bhavnagar.
“The new terminals will increase the capacity of the Bhavnagar port many times over,” he said.
The prime minister further said that the government is trying to restart the ferry service between Ghogha and Dahej that was launched in 2017, but was stopped for natural reasons.
“Many challenges related to nature arose before this project. With the help of modern technology they are being phased out, and I hope that the people of Ghogha and Dahej can soon benefit from this facility, ”he said.
Modi also interacted with some people like farmers, pilgrims, and businessmen, who expressed their happiness for the new ferry service.
The Union Minister of State for Shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya, and the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani, were present on the occasion.
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