The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (PSW) and AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal, hailed the historic agreement to build Beagle Series 12 Hopper Dredges under Make In India programme as true reflection of Atma Nirbhar Bharat. The Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL), Visakhapatnam signed this agreement to build Beagle Series 12 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger with 12,000 Cubic Meter Capacity at Cochin Shipyard Limited. This is the unique first of its kind agreement in the world.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said, “Dredging is an important aspect to keep our waterways – both at the sea and the inland waters – functional in its best situation. The vision of the Prime Minister to ‘transform through transportation’ is only possible when we empower our resources and keep our waterways efficient. This agreement will give our organisations strength for timely completion of dredging exercises for smooth & swift sailing of commercial and passenger vessels & ships. This agreement will be done through visionary “Make In India” project which is a true reflection of “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”. We are working towards fulfilling the Maritime India Vision, 2030 with well equipped dredgers for operation of ports to bring down logistic cost of the cargo.”
Prof Dr G.Y.V Victor, AIDC, MD & CEO, DCIL and Madhu S Nair, Chairman & MD, Cochin Shipyard Limited signed the agreement. Along with the Union Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal; the Minister of State for Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Shripad Naik, the Minister of State for Ports Shipping and Waterways, Shantanu Thakur, the Secretary for Shipping and Waterways, Dr Sanjeev Ranjan, IAS, along with host of other officials from the signing organisation and the ministry.
The Union Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, further added, “Let me congratulate the DCIL and CSL as well as everyone in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways for working out an agreement to build this first Make In India Dredger Building project. I must thank IHC Holland, who is the technology partner for this project, for further strengthening the Indo Dutch collaboration, especially in the maritime sector.”
The Union Minister further mentioned that this Ship Building Agreement would also benefit from the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy (SFAP) (2016) of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways for Indian Shipyards for shipbuilding contracts secured between 01.04.2016 and 31.03.2026. Financial assistance is granted under this policy to Indian Shipyards equal to 17% of the lower of “Contract Price” or the “Fair Price” or “actual payments received”, whichever is least. A provision of Rs 4,000 Crore has been made for ten-year period, viz. 2016-2026.
The Union Minister further emphasised to work hard towards achieving the goals laid out by the Hon’ble Prime Minister under the “Waste-to-Wealth” initiative. The Ministry has issued Dredging Guidelines at Major Ports to ensure that the dredge material has to be taken up for recycling and reuse based on scientific study. This will enable to employ sustainable dredging disposal mechanism and promote waste to wealth. He lauded the initiative of Cochin Port Trust which has been able to extract the dredged material and earn precious revenue by auction dredge material. He stated that Paradip Port has been utilising 1 million cubic meter of dredged material for reclamation of land for Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. Further, the Visakhapatnam Port and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port has been using part of dredged material for beach nourishment.
His Excellency the Ambassador of Kingdom of Netherlands, Shri Marten Van-den Berg also joined the event and said that the IHC Holland, a Pioneer in dredger construction would give all necessary assistance to CSL for building the dredger. He hoped, India, would go for more dredgers to fulfil the need for Maritime Sector. Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL), Visakhapatnam is a listed dredging company in India with majority of its shares held by the consortium of four (4) major ports Authorities viz a viz, Visakhapatnam Port, Paradip Port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port and Deendayal Port. DCI is a premier dredging organization of India catering to the dredging and allied services to Major Ports, Minor Ports, Indian Navy, Fishing Harbours and other maritime organizations
