Sagarmala
| Sagar Mala project | |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Prime Minister(s) | Narendra Modi |
| Ministry | Ministry of Shipping |
| Key people | Nitin Gadkari |
| Established | 31 July 2015 |
| Budget | ₹7.985 lakh crore (US$120 billion) |
| Status: Active | |
Sagar Mala project is a strategic and customer-oriented initiative of the Government of India to modernize India's Ports so that port-led development can be augmented and coastlines can be developed to contribute in India's growth. It looks towards "transforming the existing Ports into modern world class Ports and integrate the development of the Ports, the Industrial clusters and hinterland and efficient evacuation systems through road, rail, inland and coastal waterways resulting in Ports becoming the drivers of economic activity in coastal areas.
Sagarmala Project was originally mooted by the National Democratic Alliance (India) Government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003 as an waterway equivalent to the Golden Quadrilateral, another project under his government but in roadways. The project aimed to leverage India's vast coastlines and industrial waterways to drive industrial development.[1] The project was expected to reduce cost and time for transporting goods, benefiting industries and export/import trade. Thus transforming India's Coastlines as gateway of India's prosperity. Though under the later UPA governments (I and II), the project received much lesser attention.
On 25 March 2015 Cabinet gave approval for this project to develop 12 ports of India and also 1208 Islands. The project was launched by Ministry of Shipping (the nodal ministry for this initiative) in Karnataka on 31 July 2015 at Hotel Taj West End, Bangalore. A National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC), composed of the Minister in charge of Shipping, with Cabinet Ministers from stakeholder Ministries and Chief Ministers / Ministers incharge of ports of maritime states as members, will provide policy direction and guidance for the initiative’s implementation, shall approve the overall National Perspective Plan (NPP) and review the progress of implementation of these plans.
The programme aims to promote port-led development in the country by harnessing India's 7,500-km long coastline, 14,500-km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.
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Wikipedia