The Governments of India and the US have
agreed to improve their ties in the field of maritime industry with plans to
implement 150 projects under the new collaboration.
The 150 projects are estimated to have the
potential of attracting $50-60bn in infrastructure investment, and an
additional $100bn of investment for encouraging industrial growth.
Meanwhile, American ports are showing
interest in India’s comprehensive port-led development, especially the Sagarmala
programme.
Sagarmala aims to reduce logistics cost for
EXIM and domestic trade with nominal infrastructure investment to create four
million new direct jobs and another six million indirect jobs.
During the interaction between the Indian
Government and the representatives of Harbor Department of the City of Long
Beach, US, Indian union minister of shipping, road transport and highways Nitin
Gadkari offered investment opportunities in building and developing new ports,
and construction of new berths / terminals in existing ports.
Gadkari also offered investment opportunities
in coastal economic zones, dredging, ship building, ship repairing, ship
recycling, development of inland waterways and coastal and cruise shipping to
the concerned US officials.
The Government of India has also explored
joint venture opportunities with the Port of Long Beach regarding the country’s
flagship container handling Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) to promote transfer of
technology and improve bilateral commerce.
Furthermore, the Indian Government has agreed
to offer maritime clusters for secondary industrial support and design centres,
as well as financial assistance to the shipbuilding industry.
The government also noted that thematic
studies and action plans have been developed for implementation, major elements
of which include coastal shipping revolution, coastal industrial Greenfield
plants, as well as reducing time to export containers by five days, and cutting
export costs by $50 per container.
Established in 1911, the Port of Long Beach
currently handles more than 2,000 vessels every year and helps to move $180bn
in cargo.
Source: ship-technology. 22 July 2016
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