The concept of “port led development” is central to the Sagarmala vision. Port led development focuses on logistics intensive industries (where transportation either represents a high proportion of costs, or timely logistics are a critical success factor).The population in adjoining areas would have to be sufficiently skilled to participate in economic opportunities on offer. The synergistic and coordinated development of four components, namely logistics intensive industries, efficient ports, seamless connectivity and requisite skill-base will lead to unlocking of economic value.
Amongst Indian States, Gujarat has been a pioneer in adopting the strategy of port-led development, with significant results. While in the 1980’s the state grew at only 5.08% per year (National average was 5.47%), this accelerated to 8.15% per annum in the 1990’s (All India average 6.98%) and subsequently to more than 10% per annum, substantially benefitting from the port-led development model.
