India to join top 10 shipbuilding nations by 2030: Sonowal

Guwahati, Sept 15: India will become one of the top 10 shipbuilding nations by the year 2030, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal has asserted.

Sonowal also revealed that the Dredging Corporation of India has been entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the shipping channel of the Brahmaputra river throughout the year.

In an interview with The Assam Tribune, Sonowal said that after a new survey, the total coastline of India has increased from 7,500 km to 11,098 km. This happened because earlier the coastlines of the islands were not included in the coastline map of India.

The Union minister revealed that India’s performance in the maritime world is gradually improving. He said that India’s rank in the shipment category has improved from 58 to 38 and nine ports of India are now among the top 100 ports of the world, while Visakhapatnam port is listed among the top 20.

The inland cargo handling through river routes was only 18 million metric tonnes per year during the previous regime and it has increased to 146 million metric tonnes, and will soon reach the 200 million metric tonnes mark. This has happened because of the stress laid on the maritime sector by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added.

Sonowal said that India now has shipping routes to most parts of the world and soon the country would have a special icebreaker ship to facilitate movement of ships all throughout the world in winter. The technology would be brought from Russia and such a ship can even travel through the polar region as it can cut through 15 feet of ice.

Creation of the eastern maritime corridor between Chennai and Vladivostok has given a major boost to the maritime sector. Sonowal said that earlier, it took around 40 days to bring goods from Russia to India, but now “we can bring in goods only in 26 days. This has not only helped in expediting the process of bringing in goods but we can also save lots of money on fuel”.

Similarly, a new India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor is being created, which will involve water, road and rail connectivity. Sonowal said that the prevailing geopolitical situation, including wars, has created challenges for the maritime sector but movement of cargo has not been affected. Despite the situation in Bangladesh, operation of the Indo-Bangla protocol route has not been affected, he asserted.

When pointed out that the water level of the Brahmaputra goes down during the lean season, Sonowal said that the Dredging Corporation of India is maintaining the shipping channel and seven dredgers have been brought in so that the channel can be maintained throughout the year.