The three-day ‘Chintan Baithak’ organised by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) chaired by Mr Sonowal, concluded on Tuesday. On the final day, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal asked all ports to prepare a master plan in order to become Mega Ports by 2047. The meeting was conducted with the aim of bringing out innovative ideas to propel the countries blue economy.
The ‘Chintan Baithak’ was co-chaired by Shripad Yesso Naik and Shantanu Thakur, Ministers of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways and attended by Chairpersons of all major ports, and Senior Officials of MoPSW, for brainstorming on promoting India’s marine economy.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr Sonowal reiterated Centre’s vision to develop and promote India’s blue economy. He further suggested that all ports should prepare a master plan in order to become Mega Ports by 2047.
The meeting witnessed deliberation on various innovative projects undertaken by them such as Buffer Parking Yard for Container Trailers, Smart Vessel Traffic Management System, 5G Network Pilot Project, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) System for Oil Pipeline Operations, Automated Vehicle Scanning, RFID Scanning Of Personnel, Drone Surveillance, Green Warehousing System, Rejuvenation of Water bodies, etc.
The three-day meet was divided into various sessions with exclusive themes focusing on various aspects and prospects of the shipping industry along with role to be played by the MoPSW towards nation’s development.
The session on ‘Implementation of New Tariff Guidelines for existing projects and Ongoing Projects’ pondered on the issue of tariff fixation of existing BOT operators. While the session on ‘Ensuring level playing field amongst New and Existing Concessionaires in Context of New MCA’ discussed the challenges brought by New MCA 2021 bringing in tariff dynamism based on market rates thereby resulting in a non-level playing field for old players.
The session on ‘Integration of IWT, Coastal and Exim Transport’ charted out the potential benefits of improving Port Cargo via Coastal and Inland Waterways Transport in terms of cost savings and emission reduction. Through a concerted effort by central and state governments, coastal and IWT can become complementing modes with Rail and Road Transport.
