Gandhinagar, 21 July, 2014

Works are in progress for development of three new private ports in Gujarat, said Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama in the Gujarat Assembly today.

“As per the policy for ports, four private ports are developed at Pipavav, Mundra, Dahej and Hazira. At present, the works for three new private ports are in progress. They are Chhara in Gir Somnath district, Dahej in Bharuch district and Nargol in Valsad district,” the minister said adding that the state has witnessed Rs. 30,000 crore private investment in port sector so far.

The Minister further said that in year the state run Gujarat Maritime Board registered anual 6% growth in its capacity in year 2013-14 which was 21.5 million metric tonne.

He said, Gujarat has 41 small and medium size ports. 24 captive jettis, 9 private jetties and 4 private ports are developed. In year 2001-02 equipped capacity of ports was 135 mmt which went up to 387 mmt in March 2014.

He said Gujarat enjoys 74% traffic of India’s total coastal traffic at all small and medium size ports.

The Minister mentioned Dahej-Ghogha ferry service project which will cut down the distance between Ghogha port in Saurashtra an Dahej port in south Gujarat from existing 360 km(7-8 hours) to 31 km(1.5 hour). He said the government has revised Rs. 537 crore budget in this project. The Minister however didn’t speak about delay in execution of this project, or its targeted date of completion.

The Minister said that the state has received 14 proposals worth Rs. 6129 crore for new ship building/repair yards.