Maharashtra very important for country's progress: Gadkari

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SME Times News Bureau | 19 Sep, 2017
The Cabinet Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari has said that the progress of Maharashtra is very important for the country's progress.

Speaking at the fifth edition of FICCI's Progressive Maharashtra, in Mumbai on Monday, Gadkari said he had promised to deliver Rs 3 lac crore of works for Maharashtra. Of that, he has delivered over Rs 2.86 lakh crore worth of projects for Maharashtra in the road sector alone.

"The progress of Maharashtra is very important for the country's progress. I am Maharashtra's ambassador at the centre. In Maharashtra, there were 7200 km of national highways when I took over. Today the number stands at about 22000 km - over 3 times," Gadkari said. He has sanctioned works worth over Rs 6.5 lakh crore during his tenure.

Gadkari felt happy that both the important ports in Maharashtra MbPT & JNPT were doing well.

"JNPT earned Rs 1355 crore profit first year, with the port sector profit at Rs 3000 crore. This year we expect 7000 crore from the sector with JNPT alone returning a profit of about Rs 2000 crore," the Minister observed.

Plans have been drawn to increase the container handling capacity of JNPT to 1 crore containers.

Modernisation and expansion works have commenced at several ports including JNPT, he added.

At the Wadhwan port in Dahanu, Maharashtra, most clearances are done, Gadkari informed adding that Rs 12 lac crore investment in port led development had been envisaged.

Moreover, blended fuels such as ethanol/ methanol/ bio CNG/CNG were being thought of as indigenous fuels for the shipping industry, Gadkari told.

Works were on for two satellite ports - one at Jalna near Aurangabad and the other at Sindi in Wardha.

Under the aegis of the Indian Port Rail Corporation Ltd, a rail line connecting Manmad and Indore via Dhulia and Nandurbar, besides quadrupling of Manmad -Igatpuri section at Rs 4500 crore to improve connectivity to JNPT is being implemented according to Gadkari. This, he said would reduce the distance between Delhi and Bengaluru by about 350 km besides fostering Maharashtra’s development of backward areas– Dhulia and Nandurbar.

International cruise business, coming into India is likely to touch about 950 cruises annually in the next few years according to Gadkari. At 4500 passengers per cruise, this could translate into a huge business opportunity for the travel and tourism sector given the kind of spends made by such tourists, he said. He asked for industry's support to help in developing cruise based tourism.

Catamarans, sea planes and amphibious buses are also being thought of as alternative modes of transport he informed.

Gadkari has plans to connect Maharashtra to the North Eastern part of India, Bangladesh and other South East Asian nations such as Myanmar via Varanasi, Haldia and Bangladesh through water ways.

"We are doing dredging worth Rs 250 crore in Bangladesh. Overall, 7500 km of seafront and 20,000 km inland waterways with 2000 river ports are being envisaged. This would reduce logistics costs by six percent and result in exports growing 1.5 times the existing number."

Welcoming the Minister, Pankaj Patel, President, FICCI said "You have created magic. Roads are being built at the rate of 40 km per day. Earlier, containers could be received only after 7 days now we get them after 3 days."