Ahead of a National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC) meeting to be held in New Delhi on October 5, the State Government is busy preparing port-based developmental projects to be funded under the Sagarmala Scheme.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to attend the NSAC meet to he held under chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has already invited Patnaik to the scheduled meeting.
Union Shipping Ministry Additional Secretary Alok Srivastava along with a team of officials had come here on September 8 and held discussions with Chief Secretary GC Pati and Development Commissioner U N Behera on the scheme.
The State Government forming a State-level committee headed by the Chief Minister is in the process of charting out State Perspective Plan for coastal areas and ports and their linkages and relationships with hinterland with respect to industrial and commercial development.
Odisha, with a long 480 km coast line, is likely to be benefitted in a big way as the Government plans to develop port-based smart cities which would be linked to the hinterland with better road and rail infrastructure. Similarly, it is planning to include proposed waterways in the Sagarmala scheme, said sources.
“As Odisha is trying to have at least 14 ports, there will be lot of scope for such an initiative. Tourism sector will get a boost as there is a move to create facilities in uninhibited islands for tourists under the scheme,” said an official.
Sagamala also seeks to achieve reduction in logistic cost for EXIM Trade by not just improving the port capacities and infrastructure but by also simplifying procedures used at ports for cargo movement and promoting the use of electronic channels for information exchange, the official added.
Odisha would be able to take up development of coastal communities through targeted fisheries and tourism projects among others, said the official, adding that the Sagarmala project would also strive to seamlessly integrate industrial development and freight corridors in a very big way.