Rs 12 L crore deals at World Maritime Summit to power Northeast waterways: Sonowal

Guwahati, Nov 2: Agreements for investment of over 12 lakh crore rupees were signed at the recent world maritime summit, which will also benefit the North East region in a big way in the days to come, said the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal.

Talking to The Assam Tribune, the Union Minister said that prominent German company Rhenus Logistics Private Limited would bring in 100 barges to India to ply in the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Barak rivers. The company will bring the first barge in December this year and complete that 100 within a year. This will give a major boost to inland water transport in the entire country in the days to come, he added. He also said that the barges would connect rivers through Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal.

Sonowal said the recently concluded maritime summit was considered one of the best ever by the World Maritime Organization as it saw a footfall of over one lakh people including over 500 exhibitors and 350 technical experts. He said that more than 600 agreements were signed at the summit.

The Minister said that India now has maritime links with 147 countries and over 90 percent of India’s trade (by volume) is transported through the maritime links. India’s major maritime partners include European countries, Russia, Australia, US, Middle East, etc. He revealed that India is now ranked second in the world in export of vehicles and third in export of mobile phones. These are exported through the maritime routes.

With the Prime Minister laying stress on the maritime sector, which was not given due attention earlier, foreign direct investment is also coming to this sector. He asserted that maritime sector would transform India’s economy in the days to come.