Aiming to boost port-led development, the Shipping Ministry will host Maritime India Summit 2016 in Mumbai between 14th and 16th April 2016. <br/><br/>Speaking at the Summit's curtain raiser press conference, Mr. Gadkari said India's port and shipping sector has potential to create nearly 40 lakh direct jobs and 60 lakh indirect employment opportunities over the next 5 years. The three day Maritime India Summit 2016 will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 14th April at Bombay Exhibition Centre.<br/><br/>Recalling Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi's thrust on port led development; Mr Gadkari said his Ministry has drawn up projects with investment potential of 18 billion US dollars. These will include 27 port based industrial clusters, promotion of coastal shipping and development of inland waterways as part of the Sagarmala Project.<br/><br/>Mr. Gadkari said there is an urgent need to bring down the logistics costs for India to be competitive in the global market. The minister said that the Summit will aim to lower the logistics cost from 18 to about 12 percent by developing coastal shipping and inland waterways.<br/><br/>Giving details of major initiatives taken by the Government, Mr. Gadkari said new green field ports will be coming up at Vadhavan, near Dahanu in Maharashtra, Colachal near Kanyakumari in Tamilnadu and Sagar Island in West Bengal, entailing an investment of 20,157 crore rupees. He added that development of 111 inland waterways will also offer huge investment opportunities in the fields of dredging, fairway development and terminal construction.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the Maritime India Summit 2016 will have an Investors Meet, panel discussions, seminars and demo sessions regarding shipbuilding, ship repair and ship recycling aspects. The Summit will showcase opportunities in port modernization and new port development, port-based smart cities and maritime cluster development, lighthouse tourism and cruise shipping, dredging and inland waterways transportation sectors.<br/><br/>The Republic of South Korea is the partner country and will be represented by a high level ministerial and business delegation. That apart; foreign delegations from more than 20 countries including Norway, Singapore, UAE, UK, France and EU will attend the summit.