Budget 2018: Sagarmala gets a Rs 168 crore push as FM puts CEZs and port development on fast track

The government’s flagship 'Sagarmala’ projects, aimed at creating mega coastal economic zones (CEZs), got a big push on Thursday with finance minister Arun Jaitley earmarking Rs 168.57 crore for port development and modernisation of major ports for 2018-19.

As part of Sagarmala Programme, more than 400 projects have been identified for implementation, during 2015-2035, across the areas of port modernization & new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-linked industrialisation, and coastal community development. Out of these, 199 focus projects are phased out up to 2019.

The Sagarmala Programme seeks to reduce logistics cost and time for merchandise exports and imports, as also domestic cargo. CEZs, Coastal Economic Units (CEUs) and Port-Linked Industrial Clusters have been envisaged as mega seaside industrial conclaves as part of the umbrella Sagarmala Programme.

CEZs could be spatial economic regions comprising of a group of coastal districts or districts with a strong linkage to the ports in that region. CEZs are also envisaged to tap synergies with the planned industrial corridor projects.

CEUs will be specific industrial estate projects with a demarcated boundary similar to the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) nodes. The CEUs will house the industrial clusters and projects proposed within the CEZ.

According to the government, each CEZ will consist of multiple CEUs and more than one industrial cluster can be housed within a CEU. Within each industrial cluster, there can be several manufacturing units. To accelerate the CEU development process, it is proposed that CEUs be prioritized in locations where land parcels are available in areas close to a deep draught port and with strong potential for manufacturing.

As part of the ‘National Perspective Plan’, 14 CEZs have been proposed across all coastal states.

According to government data, 415 projects will be undertaken of which 189 will be for port modernisation, 170 will be for connectivity enhancement, 33 will be for port-linked industrialisation and 23 will be for coastal community development