Hyderabad As many as 171 projects have been undertaken under Sagarmala, the flagship Central sector scheme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, with total funds sanctioned Rs 4,525 crore. Of these, 53 projects are under development, 49 have been completed, and 69 are under implementation.

Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal provided this information in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

In terms of investment, Gujarat leads the list with 12 projects worth Rs 1,059 crore, which is over 23 per cent of the cost of all projects in the country. Maharashtra follows closely, with 46 projects worth Rs 952 crore. Karnataka has 31 projects of Rs 628 crore, Tamil Nadu 22 worth Rs 477 crore, and Andhra Pradesh 14 of Rs 448 crore.

To harness India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways, and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes, the government embarked on the ambitious Sagarmala Programme which aims to promote port-led development in the country.

Approved by the cabinet in March 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched it on April 14, 2016, at the Maritime India Summit 2016. As part of the programme, a National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the comprehensive development of India’s coastline and maritime sector was prepared. Sagarmala is aimed at reducing logistics costs for international and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment. This includes reducing the 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, and optimizing time and cost of international container movements.