Port led development to create 1 crore jobs in 5 Years: Gadkari
Union Minister for S
hipping, Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said port and shipping sector has potential to create nearly 40 lakh direct jobs and 60 lakh indirect employment opportunities over the next 5 year.
Speaking at the curtain raiser press conference of the India Maritime Summit in Mumbai on Friday, Gadkari said “all the developed countries have a vibrant port sector, but unfortunately, our maritime sector remained neglected over the years, despite having immense potential”.
Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s thrust on port led development, Mr Gadkari said his Ministry has drawn up projects with investment potential of Rs 1,20,000 crores, (US $ 18 billion) which will be showcased at the India Maritime Summit to be held in Mumbai from April 14 -16. These include 27 port based industrial clusters, promotion of coastal shipping and development of inland waterways as part of the Sagarmala Project.
The Minister said there was an urgent need to bring down the logistics costs to make our products as well exports competitive. “Currently logistics costs in India is about 18%, while it is 10-12% in Europe. Our focus is on bringing down the logistics cost from 18% to 12% by developing coastal shipping and inland waterways. Needless to mention that water transport is the cheapest mode of transport” he added.