Union Shipping and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari today said about Rs 4 lakh crore will be mobilised for the port linked infrastructure development by 2025 under Sagarmala Programme. <br/><br/>He was addressing a press conference during the Maritime Summit. He said that all efforts are being made to complete Sagarmala in next five years instead of 10 years. He said the share of waterways in the total trade will be doubled during the period. <br/><br/>He outlined 150 projects including port development, expansion capacity and road and rail connectivity projects under the programme. He said the programme will bring down the logistic costs to a tune of Rs 40 thousand crore per annum and generate one crore employment. <br/><br/>He said out of total 8 new projects envisaged, three new ports will be taken up this year in West Bengal, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

Union Minister for Shipping and Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari today said that the government has decided to reduce timeframe of its ambitious Sagarmala project by half to fast-track port-led infrastructure development that could employ 10 million Indians. <br/><br/>He said said at the maiden Maritime India Summit in Mumbai that following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention, it has been decided to finish Sagarmala project in five years instead of 10 years.<br/><br/>He said, the project will boost India's merchandise exports to USD 110 billion.The National Perspective Programme for Sagarmala was launched here by the Prime Minister today.<br/><br/>Mr. Gadkari said the flagship Sagarmala project to harness India's 7,500-km coastline will promote port-led development in the country.<br/><br/>This plan is based on four strategic levers — optimising multi-modal transport to reduce cost of domestic cargo, minimising time and cost of export-import cargo logistics, lowering costs for bulk industries by locating them closer to the coast, and improving export competitiveness by locating discrete manufacturing clusters near ports.