With the aim to provide impetus to the ‘Make In India’ initiative and promote port-led industrialization, the Ministry of Shipping organized a workshop on ‘Coastal Economic Zones’ under its Sagarmala Programme at New Delhi. The workshop focused on the 14 Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs) which have been identified under the National Perspective Plan of Sagarmala.
The workshop apprised the participants that these CEZs will be aligned to relevant ports in the maritime states and will house Coastal Economic Units for setting up manufacturing facilities. The CEZs have been conceptualized as a spatial-economic region which could extend along 300-500 km of coastline and around 200-300 km inland from the coastline. Each CEZ will be an agglomeration of coastal districts within a State.
Leveraging the port eco-system these CEZs will provide the geographical boundary within which port led industrialization will be developed. The CEZs have been envisaged to tap synergies with the planned industrial corridors like Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor and Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajive Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Government of India said, “Sagarmala is a holistic and integrated programme that will transform the way the logistics are handled in the country.” He added that despite tough global economic situation, developing the manufacturing sector can boost growth rates and harness India’s demographic dividend.
“There is immense scope for logistic cost reduction under Sagarmala and CEZ is an effort to reduce cost by locating the manufacturing centres closer to the ports thereby making Indian trade competitive in the global market.” he reiterated.
Calling out for active participation from the States, Shri Dr. Alok Srivastava, Additional Secretary, said “The Sagarmala Programme has been conceptualized by the centre, however active participation from the States is highly essential to make this a success.”
“Sagarmala is an intricate programme which has the potential to drive the socio-eco development in the country in a holistic manner.”, he added.
The Workshop was attended by representatives from various Central Ministries, State Governments, autonomous bodies, private sector and was well received by the participants. During the interaction in the workshop, valuable suggestions were made by the participants.
By incorporation of the inputs from the various maritime state governments, the CEZ perspective plans will be finalized. Detailed Master Plans will be prepared by the Sagarmala Development Company and more projects will be identified. The Sagarmala Development Company has recently been approved by the Cabinet.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.