Ahead of Maharashtra polls, PM Narendra Modi launches SEZ at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, promises jobs

MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned INS Kolkata, the Indian Navy's largest destroyer, in Mumbai on Saturday, and later laid the foundation stones of the Rs 4,000-crore port-based multi-product SEZ and the Rs 1,900-crore Port Connectivity Highway Project at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Raigad district.

The JNPT SEZ will come up over 277 hectares of land near the port as a self-sustainable integrated development project with a potential to generate around 150,000 jobs. The Union shipping ministry plans to execute the project in the engineering, procurement and construction mode through a special purpose vehicle. The project is part of the Centre's National Highway Development & Port Connectivity Programme.

His sights set firmly on the state assembly elections, Modi said SEZs could provide employment to local youths, preventing migration.

He said the "Sagarmala" project for maritime states would not merely mean development of ports, but port-led development.

Union minister of shipping, road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari said the Konkan would drive future growth and assured priority to "bhoomiputras" in employment in the SEZ.

Emphasizing the importance of ship-building, he said, "South Korea is smaller than Maharashtra but accounts for 40% of ship-building in the world. We need to increase activity as there is great employment potential." He also listed a plan for setting up state-level export promotion commissions, which will work with the Centre and provide fresh stimulus to exporters in the country.

Gadkari announced JNPT will build three satellite ports to integrate trade: one at Surat and two dry ports at Aurangabad and Wardha (where cargo will be moved by train