Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday called for making India a leading maritime nation and emphasised the important role ports will have to play in achieving the ambitious vision.
A presentation was made to the Vice President by the Chairman of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), K Rama Mohana Rao and other senior officials during an interaction with him at Visakhapatnam. They apprised the Vice President on various activities at the port, including its expansion plans.
Observing that India is strategically located on the world's shipping routes with a long coastline of about 7,517 km and over 200 major and minor ports, he said "these ports play an important role in India's economy."
Recalling that ancient India was a great maritime power and that the navies of Chola kings and Kalinga kings used to rule over the oceans, the Vice President said "we have to regain that past glory".
Touching upon the development of the port infrastructure in the country, he said that as part of the ambitious Sagarmala project, more than 504 projects have been identified to unlock the opportunities for port-led development and these initiatives are expected to mobilize more than 3.57 lakh crore of infrastructure investment.
Noting the decline in the cargo trend at Visakhapatnam port during 2020-21 due to the pandemic after a healthy upward swing between 2015-16 and 2019-20, the Vice President expressed the hope that the port would regain its growth trajectory once the situation normalizes. "It is important to note that ports will play an important role in post-COVID economic recovery", he added.