The Hindu Business Line : Sagar Mala project to change maritime sector's horizons

THE Sagar Mala project, when implemented, would bring about major changes to improve the maritime industry and is expected to infuse new life into some of the neglected sectors, such as inland waterways and coastal shipping, said Mr M.P. John, Honorary Secretary, National Maritime Day Celebrations Committee (NMDCC).

The National Maritime Day Celebrations held here on Monday were based on the theme `Sagar Mala: Revolution in the making', as the project would encompass all the facets of the maritime sector, including ports, shipping, shipbuilding, inland waterways as well as maritime education and training. "It aims to fully realise the potential of the sector, which will play a major role in the accelerated development of our country and its economy," he said in an official release here.

The project' major thrust is on encouraging private and foreign investment, and privatising port facilities, under the landlord model, to keep pace with the expected growth in India's sea-borne traffic in the coming years, Mr John said. According to a report by a working group of the port sector, for the 10th Five-Year Plan, Indian ports are projected to handle 656 million tonnes of traffic by 2006-07 and in excess of one billion tonnes by 2011-12, he said.

Inland water transport is the most environment-friendly, cost-effective and fuel-efficient mode of transport, with huge potential for employment generation. For India, this provides a viable alternative to the heavily burdened rail and road transport. Out of over 1,500-million-tonne domestic cargo, only a little over 100 million tonnes is moved by coastal shipping, which represents barely 7 per cent. "This is abysmally low," Mr John said.

The country's shipbuilding and ship-repairs industriesare saddled with problems of high cost and low productivity, he said. Almost all the 14 shipyards in the private sector, four in the Central government and two in the state government, apart from three defence shipyards, are running at a loss with capacity utilisation barely between 20 and 50 per cent. Cochin Shipyard Ltd is the only yard in the country capable of building ocean-going large ships up to a size of about 1,10,000 DWT, he said.

The implementation of the Sagar Mala project and the resultant boost to the inland water transport sector and coastal shipping is expected to infuse new life in the shipbuilding and ship-repair sectors, Mr John said. The revenue for shipbuilding and ship repairs, from the present level of Rs 400 crore per annum each, is expected to jump to over Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 2,000 crore per year, respectively.

On manpower for ships, he said, international studies show that there would be continued shortage of seafaring officers, and if India is to exploit this situation, it is imperative not only to maintain but also improve our standard of maritime education and training. With this purpose, the Sagar Mala project envisages establishment of two maritime universities on each coast, installation of two training ships on each coast besides installing equipment and simulators in our training institutes and universities.