Mumbai, Apr 21: Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, on Monday, flagged off cruise operations from the Mumbai International Cruise Terminal (MICT), India’s largest cruise terminal.

The MICT, developed as per Cruise Bharat Mission, was developed as per latest global standards and is expected to take a pioneering role in developing cruise tourism in India, according to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

"It is only logical that we work towards realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Bharat becoming a global cruise hub through its state-of-the-art infrastructure. Today, Mumbai, with its longstanding repute as a major maritime hub in the world, commenced Cruise Operations from the Mumbai International Cruise Terminal, providing passengers modern amenities for a better and safer experience," Union Minister Sonowal said on the occasion.

Spread over a built-up area of more than 4,15,000 square feet, the MICT is developed at Ballard Pier. It is equipped with 72 check-in and immigration counters spreading over an area of 2,07,000 square feet on the first two floors (G+1) while the other two floors (2+3) are developed as commercial floors.

The newly inaugurated MICT is designed to handle 1 million passengers every year with an approximate 10,000 passengers per day. It can also handle 5 ships simultaneously, with 11 meters draft and up to 300 meters length. At the parking space, more than 300 vehicles can be parked simultaneously.

The Union Minister also inaugurated the renovated Fire Memorial at Victoria Docks as well as renovated two heritage buildings — Fort House at Ballard Estate and Evelyn House at Colaba.

Sonowal also inaugurated Sagar Upvan garden, along with ‘Shore to Ship Electric Supply’ under the Green Port Initiative.

The minister also attended the MoU signing ceremony for the development of infrastructure projects with an investment worth more than Rs 5,700 crore at Vadhavan Port.

The agreements were signed for development of a terminal for handling container, bulk, and liquid cargo with investment of Rs 4,200 crore, development of a dedicated terminal for handling bulk and liquid cargo with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore and development of a liquid cargo jetty and a tank farm with a capacity of 3,00,000 CBM for handling liquefied chemicals and related products with an investment of Rs 500 crore.

The Cruise Bharat Mission has set ambitious yet achievable goals like development of 10 international sea cruise terminals, creation of 100 river cruise terminals, launch of 5 marinas along our coast, seamless integration of more than 5000 km of waterways, 1 million sea cruise passengers and 1.5 million river cruise passengers by 2029, while creating over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs across the cruise value chain.

--IANS

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