State government-controlled ports, which collectively handle around half of India’s total cargo movement, have submitted capacity expansion plans worth over Rs 2 lakh crore to the Centre.
These ‘non-major’ ports will supplement India’s plans to increase total handling capacity by four times to 10,000 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2047.
Gujarat aims to develop integrated port cities with an estimated investment of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Andhra Pradesh envisages an investment of Rs 50.000 crore in the ports sector till 2050.
Gujarat alone plans to have over 2,000 mt handling capacity by 2047. This will mean developing 10 greenfield ports with 500 mt additional capacity. The state will also redevelop 200 mt capacity at ports controlled by the Gujarat Maritime Board. A planned port city will be modelled on Jebel Ali in the UAE, and Rotterdam of the Netherlands.
Andhra Pradesh is eyeing an investment of Rs 50,000 crore in the ports sector till 2050. Presentations on the proposed expansion plans were made to the ministry of ports, shipping, and waterways over the past few weeks.
Kerala Maritime Board is looking to scale up the Ponnani Model, which focuses on extraction of construction grade sand from dredged material from ports. Under this approach, a purification plant is situated close to the port and dredged material is measured and transported by trucks. Product sale and payments to agencies are done online to prevent pilferage.
