Maintaining that it was time for the four Public Sector Undertaking (PSUs) shipyards to explore export opportunities, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday asked the four defence PSUs to undertake projects for export of ships by setting up export cells.
Inaugurating the newly constructed Submarine Assembly Workshop at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders limited (MDl) here, Parrikar said: “You have the capability and you need to look for exports... We have not done much export. For that matter all the defence PSU shipyards. Can we have a special cell, a small cell, to sell ships abroadIJ. These may be OPVs and smaller vessels”.
Exhorting the MDl and other PSU shipyards to consistently embrace new technology to ensure their own growth and also to compete with the private companies, Parrikar said, “Technology is available, further advanced technology would be made available”.
The four shipyards that the minister referred to are Mumbai-based MDl, Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers ltd (GRSE), Goa-based Goa Shipyard ltd (GSl) and Visakhapatnam-based Hindustan Shipyard ltd (HSl).
The Minister said that the skill in the field of submarine construction should not be lost due to lack of orders.
He, however, pointed out that overall level of indigenisation in the next line of submarines must be substantially higher.
Expressing his delight over the induction of the state of the art workshop at the MDl, Parrikar said submarine building in the country was stopped in the year 1993 and it was recently revived by way of the Scorpene Project
On the revived submarine building plan, Parrikar said: “We have to look into various aspects, we must not allow skills to die. We need to have a perspective plan so that the knowledge does not lapse as it happened in case of submarines from 1993-94”
The Minister also expressed happiness over the performance of MDl, wherein the production value has improved from Rs. 2865 crore in the year 2013-14 to Rs. 4009 crore in the year 2015-16 (approximately 40 per cent).
Earlier, at the inaugural ceremony, Rear Admiral (Retd) RK Sherawat, Chairman and Managing Director, MDl welcomed Vice Admiral Sunil lanba, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command and Mumbai Mayor Snehal Ambekar.
The Submarine Assembly Workshop set up in addition to the various infrastructure facilities created under the Mazdock Modernisation Project (MMP) will gear up MDl in meeting the long term needs of submarine construction for the Navy.
The facilities created under MMP, boost infrastructure for reducing the time required for production warships and submarines. As a result of such capability enhancement over the last few years, all Indian Naval and Coast Guard ships and submarines are being produced in the country itself.
With the commissioning of the state of the art workshop, MDl has acquired unique capability of second construction/assembly line for Submarines. Built at a cost of approximately Rs. 153 crore, it would be possible to assemble/outfit five submarines in the workshop concurrently.
The new workshop is one of its kind in the country incorporating green building features such as rain water harvesting, sewage treatment plant, grey water treatment plant, oily water separator plant for treatment of sewage, grey water and oily water respectively with zero discharge into the municipal drains.