Bharat is located along the key international trade routes in the Hind Magasagar (Indian Ocean) and has a long coastline of over 7500 km.
Bharat is surrounded by Hind Magasagar in the South, Arabian Sea in the West and the Bay of Bengal in the East.
Bharat has a rich cultural heritage of natural resources, especially numerous rivers and its tributaries adorn Bharatiya soil. Bharat has been blessed with numerous rivers, big and small, like Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Narmada, Kaveri, Godavari, Maha, Kosi, Satlaj, Chinab, Beas to name a few.
Rivers have proven to be lifeline to human race. Every civilisation was nurtured around the banks of rivers. Lothal, the port town in the era of Indus Valley civilisation, about 5000 years ago, was an important destination for Bharat’s trading of Spices across the world.
Yet, the Port infrastructure and linkages had been frankly a ship that never sailed. The transports costs were very steep in Bharat-18 percent of GDP, compared to that being less than 10 percent in China, as capacity constraints and lack of modern facilities at Bharatiya ports tremendously elongates the time taken to ship goods in and out of the country and has held back Bharat’s share in the world’s trade.
Developing rivers as inland waterways can also help save domestic logistics costs too.
Interlinking of the rivers could surely solve the major issue of water shortage to a large extent.
This was originally mooted by the previous NDA Government led by late Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the waterways equivalent of the Golden Quadrilateral. But, unfortunately after the fall of Vajpayee Government in 2004, the UPA Government, terminated the River interlinking project and brought the development of waterways to a standstill.
Interlinking of rivers in Bharat, was the ambitious programme and long cherished dream of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The UPA Government lacked political will to solve the differences over water sharing among the states and the project that could have made distinguishable difference and boosted growth, was compelled to be put on s halt.
The project comprises of 14 rivers in the peninsular region and 16 rivers of Himalayan origin.
Hon. Prime Minister has emphasised on Waterways as important means of transport.
Interlinking of rivers project has got massive boost from the current Narendra Modiji led Government. The central Government has ensured hefty funding of 60,000 Crore. It envisages to link rivers of Krishna, Godavari, Cauvery and Pennar rivers. Interlinking of rivers would prevent loss of water that flows into the sea and that water would be utilised for irrigation by farmers who often suffer due to erratic climate. Moreover, it is an important solution for water shortage as well as affordable transport solution through waterways.
The Sagarmala Programme is a flagship mission launched by the NDA Government under Ministry of Shipping to promote port-led development in the country by exploiting 7500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and its strategic location on key international maritime trade routes. It aims at revitalising the Ports of Bharat in order to enable them to play pivotal role in the economic growth and development.
The programme envisages unlocking of the potential of waterways and the coastline to minimise infrastructural investments required to meet these targets. It was implemented on the 31st July 2015.
Bharat, being the fastest growing large economies in the world, ports play an important role in the overall economic development of the country. Approximately 95 % of Bharat’s merchandise trade (by volume) passes through sea ports.
Many ports in Bharat, are evolving into specialised centres of economic activities and services and are vital to sustain future economic growth of the country, such as JNPT, Mundra Port, Hazira Port, Sikka Port etc.
Although, especially for successful implementation of Make in India project as well as to decrease the pressure on the highways and Railways, to a smoother, cheaper, safer and cleaner alternative is using waterways. Unfortunately, the previous Government had not given much heed to developing this option, hence in comparison to other nations, contribution for waterways in Bharat as mode of transport, had been lagging behind.
Significant savings could be achieved by shifting movement of industrial commodities like coal, iron ore, cement and steel to coastal and inland waterways.
The constraint on connectivity and sub-optimal modal-mix resulted in higher logistic cost thereby affecting the manufacturing sector and export competitiveness.
Vision of Sagarmala Programme, is a reduction in logistic cost for EXIM and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment.
The important objectives of this mission are:
1. Reducing cost of transporting domestic cargo through optimizing modal mix.
2. Improving export competitiveness by developing port proximate discrete manufacturing clusters.
3. Optimising time/cost of EXIM container movemen.
To achieve this goal and place the nation’s growth on accelerating pedestal, Modiji led Government has implemented salient measures.
1. Port modernisation and new Port Development: De-bottlenecking and capacity expansion of existing ports and development of new greenfield ports.
2. Port connectivity Enhancement: Enhancing the connectivity of the ports to the hinterlands, optimising cost and time of cargo movement through multi-modal logistics including domestic waterways (inland water transport and coastal shipping)
3. Port-linked industrialisation: Developing Port-proximate Industrial clusters and Coastal Economic Zones to reduce logistic cost and time of EXIM and domestic cargo.
4. Coastal Community Development : Promoting sustainable development of coastal communities through skill development and livelihood generation activities, fisheries development, coastal tourism etc.
5. Coastal Shipping & Inland Waterways Transport : Impetus to move cargo through the sustainable and environment friendly coastal and inland waterways mode.
Institutional Framework of the Sagarmala Programme has been designed to create a co-ordinating role for the Central Government. It aims to provide a platform for the Central, State Governments and Local Authorities to work in tandem and co-ordinate under the established principal of ‘Co-operative Federalism’ in order to achieve the objectives of Sagarmala Programme to ensure Port led Development.
Implementation of the project identified under the Sagarmala Programme have been taken up by the relevant Ports, State Governments/Maritime Boards, Central Ministries mainly through Private or PPP mode.
The Sagarmala Development Company Limited (SDCL) had been incorporated (on 31st August 2016) under the Companies Act 2013. SDLC is set up under the administrative control of Ministry of Shipping.
The initial authorised share capital of Rs. 1000 Crore and a Subscribed Share capital of Rs.250 Crore has been introduced. SDCL provides equity support for the project.
As part of Sagarmala Programme, more than 574 projects (of Six Lakh Crore) are identified for implementation during 2015-2035, across the areas of Port modernisation and new Port Development, Port connectivity, enhancement and new port linked industrialisation and coastal community development.
As on September 2019, a total of 121 projects have been completed and 201 projects are under implementation.
The Sagarmala initiative entails investment of 8.5 trillion and aims to develop 14 Coastal Economic zones(CEZ’s), 12 Smart Cities and Coastal Economic units as well as initiate One Crore direct and indirect jobs.
Alongside its economic significance, Sagarmala Pariyojna has strategic importance.
The string of Pearls is a geopolitical theory about potential Chinese malafide intentions in the Hind Mahasagar region. It refers to the network of Chinese military and commercial facilities and relationships developed by China along its sea lines of communication. Sagarmala Pariyojna is an answer such Chinese initiative.
It is certainly infelicitous that such a foremost mode of development had been sidelined for so many years.
Waterways, a notable mode of transport, is conducive to promote mammoth growth and certainly would prove to be game changer.
Bharat, has suffered in its growth story due to lack of dedicated vision.
Now, with honest efforts and long sited vision of Hon. Prime Minister along with Team Modi, Bharat is sure to set steps on ascending development path.