Noting that dry docking facilities needed for ship repairs are far from adequate in the country, Dredging Corporation of India Chairman and Managing Director, Rajesh Tripathi, has said it is necessary to set up speciality dry docks for different kinds of vessels.

He was speaking at a seminar on enhancing port and coastal infrastructure, organised by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Ministry of Finance and the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Wednesday. The seminar was organised as a run-up event to the annual conference of AIIB to be held in Mumbai in June.

Tripathi said, currently, a DCI dredger was being repaired at Hindusthan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) here. He said the DCI did not have a captive shipyard of its own, which was a major constraint. "However, we are planning to set up a facility for ship repairs, skill development and maintenance for dredgers and other ships at Antarvedi in East Godavari district. The state government has agreed to provide the land, roughly 200 acres. We have sent the proposal to the ministry," he said.

He said the government had embarked upon an ambitious programme to dredge the rivers for inland waterways and at least 100 dredgers would be needed per year for the next decade to complete the programme. "Both the private sector and the Government would have to work in tandem to accomplish the task," he added.

R.V Vimal, General Manager of Chowgule group, said the lack of quality manpower was one of the major constraints hampering the ship repair industry and a national institute for skill development and certification should be set up. He said the industry should gear up for unmanned, high-tech, digital ships in future. Otherwise, India would be left far behind.

Rajesh Shahi, the Managing Director of Glory Ship Management, said there was a huge demand-supply gap in the domestic industry. If the gap is not bridged, the country's economic progress as well as environment would suffer.

Anil Kumar, the principal surveyor of Llyods Register, said India should think big in these matters and turn the country into a global ship repair hub by offering incentives and creating the right ecosystem and infrastructure. Arun Srivastava, the Deputy Director-General of the Indian Coast Guard, spoke about the repair needs of the Coast Guard vessels.

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