Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes reins of Vajpayee's port project NSAC.

After Niti Ayog, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon be heading another body, a port infrastructure development initiative--National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC). The PM's committee is expected to oversee a company, Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) with the shipping minister as its chairman and the shipping secretary as the co-chairman.

This company will assist port-development and linkage projects in the private sector and also on publicprivate participation models. The Centre is expected to spend about Rs. 12,000 crore for the first phase of the Sagarmala project and Rs. 5,000 crores in the next five years for setting up 10 Coastal Economic Regions (CER) around clusters of ports.

Though the Sagarmala project is a 12-year-old idea, first announced by former PM Vajpayee during his 2003 Independence Day address and pursued by Manmohan Singh's PMO, a draft cabinet note was prepared a fortnight ago by the shipping ministry to be submitted in the next couple of weeks to the cabinet committee on economic affairs for its final approval.

The project is aimed at expanding ports, promoting port-led development in coastal economic regions, boosting coastal shipping and inland water ways stringing them all with road and rail traffic. 'The NSAC shall be chaired by the PM, with cabinet ministers from stakeholder ministries and chief ministers of maritime states as members. This committee, while providing policy direction and guidance for the initiative's implementation, shall approve the overall national perspective plan and master plans,' says the cabinet note.

ET