The international conference on green ship recycling and vehicle scrapping is being conducted to showcase the current status of ship recycling industry in Gujarat and the adoption of HKC Convention compliances.
Union minister of ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal has said that Gujarat is the business gateway of India and one of the world’s preferred maritime destinations. He was addressing the international conference on green ship recycling and vehicle scrapping in Gandhinagar on Monday.
Sonowal said that with a coastline of 1,600 km, Gujarat handles over 40 per cent of India’s cargo throughput and contributes 18 per cent of the total cargo transported using coastal shipping.
He said Gujarat was the first state in the country to privatise the port sector, and by virtue of its strategic location, proactive policies, and robust infrastructure has emerged as the flag bearer of India’s maritime success story. Sonowal said India is a leading destination for ship recycling and the planned doubling of capacity of Alang-Sosiya shipyard in Gujarat will create a large number of employment opportunities and bring in more economic prosperity to Gujarat and the country.
Taking about the Sagarmala Programme, Sonowal said it has given impetus to the thriving maritime sector in Gujarat with projects such as port modernisation, rail, road, cruise tourism, RO-RO and passenger jetties, fisheries, coastal infrastructure, skill development. There are 74 projects worth Rs. 57,000 crores under the Sagarmala Programme in Gujarat. Of these, 15 projects worth Rs. 9,000 crores have been completed; 33 projects worth over Rs. 25,000 crores are under implementation and 26 projects worth Rs. 22,700 crore are under development, he said.
The international conference on green ship recycling and vehicle scrapping is being conducted to showcase the current status of ship recycling industry in Gujarat and the adoption of HKC Convention compliances. The conference is also facilitating discussion on how the EU shipping industry can take advantage of ship recycling facilities in Gujarat.
