The National Shipping Board (NSB) has asked Maritime States to speed up the process of setting up maritime boards. The 120th meeting of the NSB in Mangalore, Mr. P.V.K. Mohan, Chairman of NSB, said some maritime States have not yet formed Maritime Boards, Daily Shipping Times reported.
The Gujarat Maritime Board has been there for 25 years. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have also set up Maritime Boards. “We want the other States to follow suit. It helps in faster development,” he said.
Stating that a meeting of the Maritime State Development Council (MSDC) will be held shortly, he said: “We will keep pushing the States to set up their maritime boards.” To a query on Karnataka’s progress in establishing a maritime board, he said NSB does not have any information in this regard.
Asked if maritime States have shown interest in establishing more major ports, he said Kerala and Gujarat on the west coast have shown interest in setting up additional major ports.
“Earlier this year, we had written to all maritime States stating that the Central Government would be keen to set up one more major port in each maritime State. Some responses have come. The first two projects have been taken up at Sagar in West Bengal and Ramayapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on the east coast. Both these have been put on fast track and Prime Minister Officer (PMO) is monitoring these projects,” he said.
“We are awaiting responses from others as well. Once the responses come, we will send our technical team to examine the feasibility and take up these projects,” Mr. Mohan said.
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