Union Cabinet approves incorporation of Sagarmala Development Company

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 20 July 2016 approved the incorporation of Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) under the Companies Act, 2013. It will be under the administrative control of the Ministry of Shipping. SDC will be developed with an initial Authorized Share Capital of 1000 Crore rupees and a Subscribed Share Capital of 90 Crore rupees. It will provide equity

support to the project Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and funding support to the residual projects under the Sagarmala Programme.

What the SDC will do?

• Implementation of the identified projects will be done mainly through private or PPP mode.

• It will provide equity support for the project Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) set up by the Ports/State/Central Ministries window.

• It will implement only those residual which cannot be funded by any other means / mode.

• SDC will Identify port-led development projects and put in place suitable risk management measures for strategic projects cutting across multiple States/Regions.

• Since the Identified projects will be undertaken by multiple agencies, SDC will also work as the nodal agency for coordination and monitoring of all the identified projects as well as other projects.

• SDC will undertake the preparation of the detailed master plans for the Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs) identified as part of the National Perspective Plan (NPP).

• It will also provide a framework for ensuring the integrated development of Indian maritime sector.

Sagarmala Project

The Sagarmala Project was launched with the approval of the Union Cabinet on 25 March 2015. It was approved with a view to achieve the broad objective of promoting port-led economic development in India.

The programme was approved in order to harness India’s 7500 km long coastline, 14500 km of potentially navigable waterways, and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.

As part of the programme, a NPP for the comprehensive development of the coastline and maritime sector has been prepared. The NPP has identified more than 150 projects across the areas of Port Modernization & New Port Development, Port Connectivity Enhancement, Port-led Industrialization and Coastal Community Development.