Gujarat poised to become major player in ship-building

Ahmedabad, Sep 28 (UNI) In view of steep upsurge in movement of Petroleum, Chemical and other products on the Gujarat coastline, the State Government is planning to develop various locations as ''Ship-Building Hubs'' and hoped to become a major player in the world shipping industry.

The State Government has already stepped up activities and identified 10 clusters, consisting of 100 shipyards with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore in the next few years, official sources said.

Six companies were in the process of development of full fledged yards and seven companies have been given in-principle approval, the sources added.

Currently, commercial ship building companies in India have a combined order book upwards of Rs 20,000 crore, of which more than fifty per cent is contributed by shipyards in Gujarat. With high growths predicted, the ship building industry in India aspires to be a US dollar 20 billion industry by 2020 and Gujarat is expected to contribute more than 60 per cent to the business.

Indian shipyards are also buzzing with activity due to countries like South Korea having huge backlogs of orders to the tune of 1,000 vessels.

UNI