PM to inaugurate maritime summit to attract $6 bn investment

Kolkata, Feb 3: The first-ever Maritime India Summit (MIS), which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14, will showcase about 200 projects with an investment potential of USD 6 billion, an official said today.

"In the first-ever maritime summit, we will showcase some 200 projects from all the ports, which has a USD 6 billion investment potential. "It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14," Deputy Secretary at the Shipping Ministry, Abhishek Chandra, said here at the first roadshow for the event.

Earlier, there were plans to hold roadshows overseas, but due to paucity of time, it was restricted to five cities in the country, he added.

The government has reached out to at least 30 countries to explore opportunities at the summit, Chandra said.

The summit would be held in Mumbai from April 14-16. Republic of Korea has consented to be the partner country for MIS-2016 and would participate with delegations of maritime companies and government officials.

Chandra said the summit would highlight projects from the country's ports and offer incentives to domestic and international companies to invest in the domestic maritime sector.

He said the projects which will be highlighted include three greenfield major ports in Maharashtra, Sagar Islands (West Bengal) and Colachel (Tamil Nadu) and the Sagarmala project, among others "We will have 27 projects showcased in the maritime summit.

This is an excellent opportunity for us to showcase new upcoming projects along the Bengal coast line and draw the attention of potential national/international investors to build maritime infrastructure of international standards in eastern India," Haldia Dock's Deputy Chairman Manish Jain said at the roadshow co-organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce.

PTI