After Chabahar, India looks to build port facilities in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

India is looking to strengthen its global maritime play by developing two additional ports in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Sarbananda Sonowal, minister for ports, shipping and waterways said on Wednesday.

Speaking about the ministry’s achievements in the first 100 days of the new NDA government, Sonowal said Indian Ports Global Limited (IPGL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sagarmala Development Company Limited under the ministry, would soon develop Mongla Port, the second-largest and busiest port in Bangladesh.

India may also take up terminal development projects at Kankesanturai near Jaffna in Sri Lanka, he said, adding that a new international ferry service between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Kankesanturai is already operational.

Maritime ecosystem

The international expansion will further strengthen India’s presence in the global maritime sector after it developed port facilities at Chabahar in Iran and Sitwe in Myanmar. “We want to be a global leader in the maritime sector. These policy initiatives are aimed at developing the ecosystem necessary for the growth and development of the sector,” Sonowal said.

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He said that in the past 100 days the government approved a ₹76,220-crore mega port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra that would expand the country’s port infrastructure and create 1.2 million employment opportunities. He added that another mega port has been proposed at Galathea Bay in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. This ₹44,000-crore project will be developed through a public-private partnership and aims to capture transhipped cargo currently handled outside India. The first phase at Vadhavan is expected to be operational by 2029, Sonowal said.

“As a result of decisive steps taken in the first 100 days of this government, container capacity of major ports is going to be doubled by an addition of 20 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in the next five years,” Sonowal said. “This will generate two million new employment opportunities in the sector in the next five years,” he added.

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On hydrogen initiatives, the minister said 3,900 acres of land at Kandla and Tuticorin ports have been set aside for a hydrogen manufacturing hub that’s expected to attract ₹5 trillion in investments.

Sonowal also said Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP), India’s largest, will become the first Indian port to achieve a container handling capacity of 10 million TEUs by 2027. The country’s first integrated port-based agro processing zone will also come up at JNP soon, the minister said.

Sonowal also said significant progress has been made on shipbuilding and ship repair. Plans to establish five such facilities have received a boost, with Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha offering land for the project, he said.

Also read: India, Iran sign long-term contract for Chabahar Port after years of talks