National Highways News

Nitin Gadkari, Indian Minister of Shipping will inaugurate five port projects worth INR  1062 Crores (USD 156 mln ) in Vishakhapatnam today (Friday). The projects to be inaugurated include upgradation of existing iron ore handling facility at Outer Harbour of Vizag Port. This would involve modernising and upgrading the 40 year old iron ore handling facility so that it can handle larger vessels of 2 lakh DWT with loading rate of 8000 MT/hour. Capacity enhancement would be to 16.20 MTPA from 12.50 MTPA. The work was awarded to M/s.ESSAR Vizag Terminals Ltd on DBFOT basis with revenue share of 31% on 14.5.2015 is was completed on 31.5.2018. The other projects to be inaugurated include Development Berths at the inner harbour of the port and Post Panamax Quay Cranes.

Nitin Gadkari, the Union  Minister for Shipping, India said in Dushanbe, that India is trying to make Chabahar Port in Iran operational by 2019. Gadkari was addressing the Indian Community at the inauguration of the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre at the Indian Embassy in Dushanbe. He said the opening up of the Chabahar Port would make the CIS countries more accessible. Shri Gadkari also spoke at length about the efforts and initiatives taken by his Government in the last four years to bring qualitative change in the lives of people. He talked about the massive work being done in the infrastructure sector, with National Highways being built at an unprecedented pace of 28km/day.

An MoU was signed  between Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for facilitating the supply of sand for highways construction work.    Concessionaires working on highways projects have been facing a shortage of sand at many sites.    The MoU aims to fill this gap by facilitating the availability of sand for these concessionaires.    DCI intends to do dredging operations at locations in South East Asia, generating large volumes of sand.    This dredging will be done for the purpose of obtaining sand. As per the MoU, business intermediaries will ship and store this sand at various ports in India and market it in India.    NHAI will facilitate the process by displaying the availability of sand at various stockyards at the ports.

Indian Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will lay the foundation stone for the development of Muktyala to Vijayawada stretch of Krishna River (National Waterways – 4) today (October 03) in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. He will also inaugurate approximately 415 km of National Highways projects worth Rs 1928.46 crores and lay the foundation stone  for another 250 km NH projects worth Rs 2539.08 crores. The Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Shri N Chandrababu Naidu will also be present on this occasion. As per MoU signed with Govt. The Vice President will lay the foundation stone for Phase- I on 3rd October, 2017.

The Indian Minister of Shipping Nitin Gadkari will perform the Bhoomi Poojan (Ground breaking ceremony) the Wardha dry port at Sindi (Railway) in Wardha, Maharashtra on 2nd October, 2017. The Dry Port is being developed by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in a bid to cater effective logistics services to the industries in Vidarbha region and improve cargo throughput at the Port. The proposed Wardha Dry Port is to be constructed over an area of 350 acres in phased development with a total estimated investment of Rs 500 Crore. The Phase-I would involve development of around 25 Ha of the total area, with an estimated cost of Rs.180 Crores (including private investment of Rs. 79 Crore). The proposed dry port is estimated to generate traffic of almost 7,000-9,000 TEUs in next 5-7 years.

The Indian government has approved a proposal to allocate 2.5 per cent of the Central Road Fund (CRF) for National Waterways (NWs) that would result in about Rs 2,000 crore (USD 309 mln) proceeds per annum for their development. A statement from the government said that Indian Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accorded its approval today to a proposal jointly mooted by the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) for amendment of Central Road Fund Act, 2000 to allocate 2.5 per cent of the proceeds of CRF for development and maintenance of NWs and a reduction in the share provided for development of National Highways.

Significant improvement in efficiency has been achieved by India's Major Ports in the last two years, said the Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan. With a view to improve further the efficiency and productivity of the major ports and make it comparable internationally, a benchmarking study of Major Ports to international standards has been conducted which has recommended 116 initiatives  out of which 70 have already been implemented. Under the Sagarmala programme, the Government has proposed to connect ports with National Highways and Rail network for efficient evacuation to and from hinterland. Fifty rail connectivity enhancement projects have been identified, out of which 25 have been taken up by the Indian Port Rail Corporation Ltd. (IPRCL) for implementation.

Based on the present traffic and cargo scenario of Major Ports, a Master Plan has been prepared for expansion of port capacity, which includes a number of new ports. Sagar Island (West Bengal):  Public Investment Board (PIB) has appraised the project subject to the condition that state Government shall ensure possession of the land is available to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)  or any other Agency providing road connectivity and to railways/agency providing rail connectivity. Projected Traffic is to be around 3.5 MTPA in 2020 increasing to around 27 MTPA in 2035. Enayam near Colachel, (Tamilnadu): Detailed Project Report (DPR) is under preparation. The Port is proposed to be developed under the Landlord model. Projected traffic is around 127.05 MTPA by 2030.

The Shipping and Road Transport sectors in India have together spent a total of about Rs 4 lakh crores ($60billion) in the past two and a half years as they work towards building world class highways and shipping infrastructure in the country, says the Cabinet Minister Nitin Gadkari. While the Road Transport & Highways Ministry has spent about Rs 3 lakh 17 thousand crores to build a total of 14,594 Km and award 21,247 Km of National Highways, the Shipping Ministry has spent about Rs 80,000 Crores for various projects aimed at modernizing and mechanizing the shipping sector and making it more efficient. Talking about the ambitious Sagarmala programme of the Shipping Ministry Shri Gadkari said that it will bring about a major reduction of  logistics cost for EXIM and domestic trade.

Indian Government has given in principle approval to a grant of Rs. 515 crores ($77.4 Mln ) to make the development of the proposed Sagar Port project in West Bengal financially viable. This is part of the continuous efforts by the Ministry of Shipping during the last two years for the development of this port. A Special Purpose Vehicle, Bhor Sagar Port Limited (BSPL) has been incorporated for the implementation of the project, with Kolkata Port Trust holding 74% equity and the Government of West Bengal holding 26% equity. IIT, Madras has been engaged to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the port, involving studies for shore-protection, land reclamation and physical modeling for use of dredge material. The work of preparing the DPR is underway.

The Shipping Ministry of India has mooted a proposal to utilize part of the fuel cess collected for building national highways for expansion of National Waterways as well. The Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari said his Ministry has sent a proposal seeking allocation of 5% of the Central Road Fund for development of Inland Waterways. “My Ministry has prepared the proposal, but the final decision will be taken by the Ministry of Finance. I am pursuing the matter” Gadkari added. Central Road Fund is a non-lapsable fund created under the Central Road Fund Act 2000 out of a cess imposed on petrol and high-speed diesel. The funds are meant to be used to develop and maintain national highways, state roads and railway over and under bridges.

Augmenting operational efficiency of ports & optimizing logistics evacuation can give boost to Indian trade and help seize the big opportunity of growth in Indian cargo traffic at ports which is estimated to increase to 2.5 bn MMTPA by 2025, says a report prepared under the Sagarmala port-led development programme of Ministry of Shipping. The Origin Destination study on cargo traffic projections & logistics bottlenecks emphasis on the need for creation of efficient infrastructure at requisite demand and logistic chain centres.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation of a Port- Based Multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) at Sheva, Navi Mumbai on Saturday, August 16, 2014. The proposed industrial infrastructure in 277 hectares with a total Public and Private investment of INR 4,000 Crore is planned as a Self-Sustainable Integrated Development Project having a potential of generating 1.5 lakh direct and indirect jobs. The ambitious SEZ to be developed through JNPT-SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) under the Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) mode will be completed in three years.