Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal chaired ‘Chintan Baithak’ on Thursday to know the status of various initiatives and programs of the government such as Asset Monetization, National Infrastructure Pipeline, and to know the capital expenditure during this fiscal.
During the meeting, it was discussed that the ministry should achieve the capital expenditure targets to meet the overall expenditure targets of the Government. “All major ports should also lay special emphasis on optimum utilization of their available land and should prepare a futuristic development plan to cater to the forthcoming needs of this business and prepare them for the future requirements and investments.”
The emphasis on promoting green shipping and reducing carbon footprint from the port operations as all the ports take up a number of initiatives to promote green ecosystem in maritime sector was also deliberated. “The various green port initiatives include developing shore reception facility for wastes from ships, setting up projects for energy generation from renewable energy sources, providing shore power to ships at berths, creating Oil Spill Response (Tier-1) capabilities at all ports, inclusion of sustainable practices in terminal design, development and operation, increasing green cover within port premises etc.”
During the meeting Sonowal said that the extensive discussions during this Chintan Meeting are linked with the Maritime Vision 2030 and Vision document 2047 to fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘ Atmanirbhar Bharat’ with his key mantra of ‘Reform, Perform & Transform’.
“As we aim for setting-up of world-class infrastructure facilities at ports, the performance of our ports is improving. This will go a long way in preparing the roadmap for smooth & swift implementation of our plan to develop & modernize our ports and implement the port led development vision of the Prime Minister,” he added.
The minister reviewed the progress of the various projects of every major port, discussed during the previous Chintan Baithak and directed all port authorities to keep an eye on the ongoing projects at the ports for timely delivery.
He said that the role as a ministry of ports, shipping and waterways, should be to empower and enable conduits through which these economic transformations can be achieved. “Through this Chintan Baithak, the best minds of maritime sector have come together so that all of us can deliberate, discuss and decide various challenges and opportunities.”
A detailed discussion on GeM procurement was also made during the Chintan Baithak. Senior officials shared their concerns and suggestions regarding purchase from GeM platform on which minister added that, ‘we will submit a proposal, so that GeM becomes seamless and more inclusive’.
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