In the Interim Budget 2019-20, presented last week, the Finance Minister, Mr Piyush Goyal, has announced the government’s intention to strengthen the Sagarmala Programme.
“Our efforts in the Sagarmala Programme will be scaled up and we will develop inland waterways faster… India’s long coastline has the potential of becoming the strength of the economy, particularly through exploitation of the Blue Economy, to ensure better standards and quality of life for a large number of people living in the coastal areas,” Mr Goyal said.
The Centre has proposed to allocate a total budgetary support of Rs 550 crore towards Sagarmala for 2019-20. This is up by 44.32 per cent against last year’s budgetary support of Rs 381.08 crore.
Sagarmala envisages reducing logistics cost and time for domestic as well as export and import transactions. The government has planned Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs), Coastal Economic Units (CEUs) and port-linked industrial clusters under its umbrella Sagarmala Programme.
The Minister also disclosed that container cargo movement will be introduced in the North-East by improving the navigation capacity of the Brahmaputra river.
However, the government did not announce any major fiscal incentive for CEZs in the budget. Sector players were hoping for tax exemption to CEZs on the lines of exemptions given to industries under Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
Allocation for Shipping Ministry
Overall, the government has proposed to allocate Rs 1,902.56 crore for the Shipping Ministry for 2019-20, down by 2 per cent from Rs 1,938.76 crore.
