Press Trust of India
Mumbai, April 14: Seeking Rs 1 lakh crore investment in developing sea ports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday promised to personally handhold investors for a “safe, secure and satisfactory” berthing so as to transform country’s 7,500-km long coastline an “engine of growth”. Modi said the government plans to more than double port capacity to 3 billion tonne by 2025 and “wants to mobilise an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore in the port sector to enable this growth.”
“This is the right time to come to India. It is even better to come through the sea route. The Indian ship is well equipped for a long haul. Don’t miss it. Missing it means missing a pleasant journey and a great destination,” he said in his inaugural address at the Maritime India Summit here. “Our vision is to increase port capacity from 1400 million tonne to 3000 million tonne by 2025. We want to mobilise an investment of one lakh crore, or one trillion rupees, in the Port Sector to enable this growth,” he said. Stating that India has had a glorious maritime history, he said government was on the path of shaping an even better maritime future. “Once you are here, I assure you that I will personally hold your hands to see that your berthing is safe, secure and satisfactory,” he told investors.
Ports to be modernised, not corporatised
Rejecting any notion about the government being pro-big business, Shipping minister Nitin Gadkari Thursday said it is not pursuing any corporatization agenda for the state-owned ports and the priority is to modernise them. “It is not a problem of the unions. It is a political problem. The opposition parties want to establish that the government is against poor, this government is pro-industrialists. So it is a fight for the image,” Gadkari said. The minister said the government has thought “seriously” on the matter and decided to modernise the ports, give them new systems and all advantages through beneficial policies. Unions have been opposing any move to corporatise state-run ports after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech last year said that the government will encourage ports in public sector to corporatise and become companies under the Companies Act.