The institute hosted its fourth Dr A N Khosla lecture today, organised by IIT Roorkee Alumni Association Ahmedabad Chapter (IITRAAA). Shri Dilip Kumar Gupta, MD, Sagarmala Development Company Limited (SDCL), and Director – Projects, delivered a lecture on Vision of Sagarmala and the Role of SDCL. Dr Gupta explained various aspects of the ambitious Sagarmala programme of the government of India, aimed at promoting port-led development in the country. It envisions reducing logistics cost for cargo, with an enhanced infrastructure investment.
Speaking on the vision and objectives of the programme, Shri Gupta elucidated that the project which envisaged a total investment of over ₹8 lakh crore will not only reduce logistics cost for both EXIM (export-import) and domestic trade but, will also create jobs and bridge skill gap in the ports and maritime sector.
“From civil engineering and mechanical engineering point of view, port engineering has a huge potential for job creation. More ports are being constructed which means more jobs are underway,” said Shri Gupta.
Highlighting the four pillars of Sagarmala programme for port-led development, i.e. 1) Port modernisation, 2) Port connectivity, 3) Port-led industrialisation and 4) Coastal community development, Shri Gupta said, “Port connectivity to our existing Indian railways, national highways is very important, which are at least around five kilometers from the port or even more than that. We took up this major challenge to make a straight railway line from the port and connect with the Indian railway network immediately wherever possible, to save national resources. We are also taking care to provide education, employment and skill development training to the coastal communities.”
Informing about the port sector capacity and utilization, Shri Gupta added that “Total traffic/cargo handled in 2018-19 is 1275 MTPA. A roadmap has been created for increasing Indian port capacity to more than 3300 MTPA to cater to the projected traffic of 2500 MTPA by 2025.” SDCL is also working to provide fishing harbors to the fishermen to secure and increase their income. It is also working to further develop cruise tourism. Shri Dilip Kumar Gupta also talked about the growth of coastal shipping which registered an impressive growth of 14.3% in 2018-19 on year on year basis.
Talking about the potential of coastal shipping and inland waterways in India, he said, “Modal shift to waterways will reduce the cost of transportation as well as environmental impact of logistics. SDCL is working in the role of an aggregator to provide such facilities to encourage companies to use it. Ultimately, it will reduce logistics cost and the the benefit can be passed on to the customer in terms of reduced prices.”
Shri Gupta has more than 25 years of experience in the field of project appraisal, project development, structuring and execution. A civil engineer from IIT Roorkee and MTech in Water Resources from IIT Delhi, Shri Gupta is known for managing projects from concept to completion with timely and flawless delivery. He has also worked on deputation to Indian Foreign Services (IFS) and was responsible for around 300+ projects during his short duration of three years as First Secretary (Economic Cooperation) at Indian Embassy, Kathmandu. He joined Sagarmala Development Company Ltd (SDCL) as Managing Director & Director (Projects) in July 2018.