NEW DELHI: Projects worth Rs 2,302 crore have been taken up for financial assistance under the Coastal Berth Scheme of the flagship Sagarmala programme, the government said on Friday. The Coastal Berth Scheme provides financial support to ports or state governments for the creation of infrastructure for the movement of cargo and passenger by sea or national waterways.
According to a shipping ministry statement, projects under this scheme are distributed over eight states with the highest number of 12 projects in Maharashtra, 10 projects each in Andhra Pradesh & Goa, 6 projects in Karnataka, three projects each in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, 2 projects in Gujarat and 1 project in West Bengal.
“Out of the 47 projects, 23 projects worth Rs 1,075.61 crore have been sanctioned for the total financial assistance of Rs 390.42 crore and Rs 230.01 crore has been released to major ports, state maritime boards and state governments. The remaining 24 projects are under various stages of development and process of approval,” it said.
The ministry has extended the period of the scheme for three years, up to March 31, 2020, and expanded its scope to cover capital dredging at major ports and preparation of DPR (detailed project report) for coastal berth project in October 2017. It said the most recent beneficiaries of the scheme were Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and the Karnataka government, respectively, for developing coastal infrastructure at JNPT, Karwar Port and Old Mangalore Port.
“Rs 25 crore was sanctioned for construction of coastal berth at JNPT. Rs 114.4 crore were sanctioned for Karnataka government for the construction of coastal berths at Karwar port and construction of coastal berth a capital dredging at Old Mangalore port,” the statement noted.