A total of 567 projects identified worth Rs58,700 crore in India

Minister for Ports, Shipping Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday said that the Ministry has identified a total of 567 projects under convergence mode with an estimated cost of Rs58,700 crore.

Addressing the media after the meeting of the National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC), he said Holistic Development of Coastal districts aims to bridge the gaps in infrastructure at the coastal areas and improve economic opportunity.

The minister said with addition of projects identified in Holistic Development of Coastal Districts and new project proposals received under Sagarmala, total number of projects stands at 1537 worth Rs6.5 lakh crore.

The committee reviewed the progress of the Sagarmala programme and deliberated on various agendas. He said there are 802 projects worth Rs5.5 lakh crore under the Sagarmala programme targetted to be executed by 2035. Out of which, 202 projects worth Rs 99,281 crore have been completed.

He said a total of 29 projects worth Rs45,000 crore have been successfully implemented under PPP model, thus, reducing the financial burden on the exchequer.

Additional 32 PPP projects worth Rs51,000 crore are currently being implemented. Further, there are more than 200 projects worth Rs2.12 lakh crore under construction and expected to be completed in 2 years’ time, he added.

The Ministry has till date funded 140 projects to the tune of Rs8748 crore and is reviewing additional proposals sent by various state governments.

More than 200 locations have been identified for development of floating jetties and 50 locations form part of the phase 1 implementation. It also was noted that there are 33 fishing harbour projects taken up of which part funding of 22 fishing harbour projects to the tune of Rs2,400 crore has been sanctioned.

The ministry is also developing two mega cruise terminal projects through Sagarmala Scheme at Mumbai and Mormugao Port.

Upgrading and modernisation of International Cruise Terminal at Mumbai worth Rs 303 crore is under construction, project has registered progress more than 70 per cent. Ministry is also supporting development of international and domestic cruise terminal and allied facilities at Mormugao Port.

The New Development Bank (NDB) has reached out to India Exim Bank with an offer to co-finance trade infrastructure across the world. While India remains a stakeholder in the multilateral NDB, any prospective partnership will mark the first time that it partners with China, considered to be a major global rival in all forms of multilateral finance, including export credit, and project exports in particular.

“I invite India Exim Bank to identify some priority projects, in trade enabled infrastructure, which involves both the elements of physical infrastructure as well as of technology,” NDB President Marcos Prado Troyjo said. Troyjo was virtually attending a summit on project exports organised by India Exim Bank on May 5.

Formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, the multilateral development bank was established by five nations namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa of the BRICS nation grouping.

Beginning operations in July 2015, the Shanghai-headquartered bank had initially had a slow start. However, it has approved more than $25 billion worth of loans across all the five-member states since then.

Stressing on the importance of financing trade infrastructure projects with technological aspects, Troyjo said manufacturing is globally leading to ‘mindfacturing’ in the export space. Referring to trade in services, knowledge, and digital goods, Troyjo said global flows of these have only accelerated in the post-pandemic scenario.

He also added that the NDB is interested in doing more projects on a co-financing basis. Both the proposals were welcomed by India Exim Bank Deputy Managing Director N Ramesh, who was moderating a session involving global trade financing and multilateral bank representatives.

The NDB has so far approved 18 projects in India worth a total of $7 billion in transportation, infrastructure, and ground-level renewable energy projects.

Interestingly, it has also approved $2 billion worth of funds under the Emergency Assistance programme in Combating COVID-19.

The summit organised by India Exim Bank was called to address the challenges facing Indian project exports and how they can prosper in the current window of opportunity when there is a growing impetus on infrastructure projects globally.

Project exports refer to the setting up of engineering, construction, or infrastructure projects overseas on deferred payment terms, which lead to the execution of turnkey projects abroad.

The government has flagged the need for Indian firms to take advantage of the situation whereby countries around the globe are increasing infrastructure investment to catalyse economic activity in the wake of the pandemic.

Case in point, multilateral development banks have also mobilised huge financial resources to support infrastructure development and economic recovery in countries globally.