The Hindu Business Line : Gujarat plans to develop ‘marine shipbuilding parks’

Ahmedabad, Sept. 30 Gujarat is planning to develop nearly 100 “Marine Shipbuilding Parks” along its 1,600-km-long coastline, each with 10 to 15 shipyards to produce a whole range of ships, which is expected to create a market worth $30 billion for the State by 2020.

With the aim of making Gujarat the shipbuilding hub of India and a global destination in this sector, these yards would be developed in private sector with FDI, with a capacity to build 0.3 to 0.6 million dwt per annum each, the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, told a two-day International Seminar on Shipbuilding Opportunities that began under the aegis of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) at Science City near here on Saturday.

GMB has identified 10 clusters comprising 100 shipyards with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore. More than 20 companies have evinced interest in shipbuilding with an investment of Rs 11,000 crore generating employment potential of one lakh jobs. Six companies are in the process of developing full-fledged yards and seven others have been given in-principle approval.

Former President Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who inaugurated the event, advised the State Government to create infrastructure for designing ship-building in a big way. A multipurpose shipping industry can be developed by an all-round strategy so that India, which occupies 43rd place in this sector, could come up as a major shipbuilder.

global share

Mr Modi said with the implementation of its plans, Gujarat expected to increase the global share of its shipbuilding industry from the existing 0.5 per cent by ten times to five per cent by 2010. For this purpose, the State was developing its ports and port-related activities in a big way. The State is also planning to create world-class facilities such as air cargo, air traffic engineering and aircraft repairing, besides ship-breaking.

Apart from the proposed Rs 11,000-crore “Sagarkhedu” scheme for an all-round development of coastal areas, Gujarat’s plans for the development of a transport city, a chain of cold storages, warehousing, and special economic zones are part of this strategy. The State is also poised to create infrastructure to provide manpower through facilities such as marine engineering, maritime management and ITI upgradation.

Dr Dong Shik Shin, CMD of Komac, South Korea, was the Chief International Guest at the seminar. Other speakers included Mr Mike Murden, CMD of Appledore International, UK, Mr Andrew L.Y. Hsia, Director-General of Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre, Taiwan, besides former Union Shipping Minister, Mr Ved Prakash Goyal.

Currently, commercial shipbuilding companies in India have a combined order book upwards of Rs 20,000 crore, of which more than 50 per cent is contributed by shipyards in Gujarat.

In this sector, India aspires to be a $20-billion industry by 2020. Gujarat is expected to contribute more than 60 per cent to the business.

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