New Delhi, 15 Dec (KNN)The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has prepared a blueprint - Maritime India Vision 2030 (MIV 2030), to ensure coordinated and accelerated growth of India’s maritime sector in the next decade with the objective of driving India to the forefront of the Global Maritime Sector.

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, Waterways and Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal has said in a virtual CII Partnership Summit 2021 in New Delhi today, that India is aiming to increase the supply chain efficiency and lower logistics costs which will facilitate India to achieve its well-defined goal of being a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025.

He said, India has one of the largest supply chain and logistics sectors in the world growing at a fast pace, as per the press release. An efficient logistics ecosystem is thought to be a catalyst for improving the competitiveness of all sectors of the economy.

He said, MIV 2030 has identified initiatives such as developing world-class Mega Ports, trans-shipment hubs and infrastructure modernization of ports. These initiatives would help in lowering overall operational costs of ports, reducing turnaround time for vessels, increasing efficiency and throughput, providing ability to handle larger ships and developing Indian Port’s strategic importance in the South Asian region.

To promote inland water transport in the country as an economical, environment friendly supplementary mode of transport to rail and road, 111 inland waterways (including 5 National Waterways declared earlier) were declared as ‘National Waterways’ under the National Waterways Act, 2016.

Union Minister Sonowal added that MIV 2030 envisions an overall investment of INR 3 to 3.5 lakh crore across ports, shipping, and inland waterways categories.

He said, this vision roadmap is estimated to help unlock more than INR 20,000 crore worth of potential annual revenue for Indian Ports. Further, it is expected to create an additional 20 lakh plus jobs (direct and indirect) in the Indian maritime sector.