Sagarmala projects worth Rs 1 lakh Cr identied in Andhra Pradesh: Shipping Minister

VISAKHAPATNAM : More than 110 projects worth around Rs 1.1 lakh crore have been identified in Andhra Pradesh under Sagarmala, even as 35 works worth Rs 32,000 crore have already been completed, Union Minister of Ports and Shipping Shri Sarbananda Sonowal said recently. Speaking at the Global Investors’ Summit being held here, he said some of the projects are focused on roll on roll off (RORO), passenger jetty, fishing, portmodernisationandskilldevelopmentamongothers.

According to the Minister, Visakhapatnam Port has exhibited a healthy cargo growth of over 7.5 per cent in 2022-23.

“Following directions from the Ministry, the port is in the process of transforming as a landlord port. Other ports alsomaycomplyby2023,”saidtheShippingMinister

H e s a i d s i x p r o j e c t s a r e o p e r a t i n g i n Visakhapatnam Port, awarded in January 2023 with an investment of Rs 658 crore

Further elaborating, Sonowal said the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Water in association with the Ministry of Fishing is upgrading fishing harbours all over Indiaasperinternationalstandards.

As many as 31 such harbours will be developed under Sagarmala and Pradhan Mantri Macha Sampada Yojana, hesaid.

Likewise, the fishing harbour at Visakhapatnam is beingupgradedatacostofRs151crore,whichwillresultin improvingthequalityoflifeofthelocalfishingcommunity.

Moreover, the Union Minister noted that the international cruise terminal in the port city of Visakhapatnam is nearing completion at a cost of Rs 97 crore,andislikelytostartoperationsfromApril.

Sharing information on achievements at the national level, Sonowal saidcargohandlingcapacityhasrisenby79 per cent in the past nine years, including merchandise exportstouchingavalueof$421billionin2021-2022.

Railways records best ever February freight loading of 124.03 MT in Feb

NEW DELHI : Indian Railways has recorded best ever FebruaryMonthlyfreightloadingof124.03MTinFebruary ’23. The incremental loading in the month of February has been 4.26 MT i.e. a growth of 3.55 % over the previous best Februaryfiguresachievedin2022.

With this, Indian Railways has had 30 straight months ofbestevermonthlyfreightloading.

IR has achieved an incremental loading of 3.18 MT in Coal, followed by 0.94 MT in Fertilizers, 0.66 MT in Balance ofotherGoods,0.28MTinPOLand0.27MTinContainer.

Increase in automobile loading has been another highlight of Freight Business in FY 2022-23 and 5015 rakes have been loaded in FY 2022-23 till February as compared to 2966 rakes during the same period of last year i.e. a growthof69%.

The cumulative freight loading from April’22 to February’23 has been 1367.49 MT as against 1278.84 MT achieved in 2021-22 i.e. an incremental loading of 88.65 MT, withagrowthof6.93%oversameperiodlastyear

The freight NTKMs (Net tonne kilometers) have increased to 73 Billion in February’23 from 70 Billion in February’22registeringagrowthof4.28%.Thecumulative freight NTKMs from April’22 to February’23 has been 82 Billion as against 74 Billion with a growth of 10.81 % over sameperiodoflastyear

The sustained efforts of Indian Railways to increase supply of Coal to Power houses, in close coordination with Ministries of Power and Coal, have been one of the key features of the freight performance in the month of February. The loading of Coal (both domestic and imported) to Power Houses increased by 3 39 MT in January with 45.63 MT Coal being moved to Power houses as against 42.24 MT last year, i.e. a growth of 8.02 %. Cumulatively, in the first eleven months of the year, IR has loaded more than 79.69 MT extra coal to Power Houses as compared to same period of last year, with a growth of morethan15.44%.

ThecommoditywisegrowthnumbersshowthatIRhas achieved growth in almost all commodity segments with thefollowinggrowthrates:

Taka, Rupee to replace USD in Bangladesh – India Bilateral Trade

NEWDELHI-BangladeshandIndiamaysoondoaway withdollarasthecurrencyofexchangebetweentwoSouth Asian neighbours. The development is expected to reduce the cost of trade as well as losses due to Rupee-Dollar and Taka-Dollardifferences.

The latest bilateral deliberations between Bangladesh and India took place on the sidelines of the G20 finance chiefs meeting held in the southern Indian city of BengaluruonFebruary24-25.

The report, while citing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina government’s estimates, adds that every year, Bangladeshinationalsspendabout$2billionontreatment, tourism and education in India. India is among the top three import destinations for Bangladesh. For Indians and Bangladeshis visiting each other’s countries, they would have a dual currency card that they can load with Indian rupeesorBangladeshiTakabeforetravelling.

ReportsintheBangladeshimediasaythattheexchange rate would be derived from the two currencies and not be workedbackwardsfromtheexchangerateofthedollar Media reported that the matter of Taka-Rupee bilateral exchangeanddualcurrencycardwasbroughtupatameeting of Bangladesh’s National Economic Council chaired by Prime MinisterSheikhHasina.

At the meeting, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder reportedly said that the move would also reduce the pressureonforeigncurrencygiventhelargevolumeofpayments toIndia.Therolloutwillfirsttakeplaceonatestbasis,beforea formalisationoftheprocessforthepublicbythepublicsector banksofthetwocountries.