Visakhapatnam, Nov 21 : The National Shipping Board (NSB) Chairman P V K Mohan today underlined the need for developing more ports to boost the economy.
Addressing a press conference here after the conclusion of 111th meeting of the National Shipping Board, he said an action plan had been drafted for the development of the East coast to make it a gateway to international trade.
He said Andhra Pradesh has around 800 km coastline and as per the State Government's guidelines, eight non-major ports could be accommodated, paving way for trade and commerce.
The models being adopted in Europe, China and Japan in coastal shipping were being studied for better inputs, he added.
He said several important issues including, measures for developing coastal shipping were discussed during the meet.
With the advent of several non-major sea ports, competition among the ports including the major ports was escalating as certain non-major ports were performing at par with major ports.
''This is a good sign, as it would speed up the decision making by the major ports invariably.'' On the issue of piracy in the international waters, Capt Mohan complemented Indian Navy's role and stressed that there was a great need of mighty Indian Naval vessels' presence in the Gulf and the merchandise sea routes to Africa and other countries.
Mr Ajeya Kallam, Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust said the National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP) envisaged an increase of 325 million tonnes of cargo traffic from major ports on the east coast.
To meet this gigantic task, the NMDP had contemplated 158 capacity augmentation projects at an estimated investment of Rs 25,000 crore in the next three to four years, he said.
--- UNI
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