Bhubaneswar, July 13: The Odisha government today urged the Union shipping ministry to promote coastal shipping in the state through Sagarmala projects as it has a long coastline, a number of navigable rivers and three sea ports.

"Transportation through coastal shipping is cost effective and environment friendly. It reduces the logistical cost of the cargo and make business more competitive in the world market," said chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi while inaugurating a workshop entitled "Accelerating Sagarmala implementation: promoting coastal shipping and inland navigation in India" here today.

"Development of coastal shipping through Sagaramala projects will reduce the congestion on rail network and the national highways," he said.

The chief secretary requested the Union ministry of shipping to develop the cargo handling infrastructure in the three existing ports of the state - at Paradip, Dhamra and Gopalpur - which would add to strength and viability of costal shipping in the state.

Underscoring the need for faster evacuation of coal from the mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) in Odisha, Padhi said the state government had already initiated measures for evacuation of coal from MCL mines areas. Sagaramala project authorities should also take initiatives from their side for quicker evacuation of coal from MCL coalfields to the ports so that those could be transported to destination points through sea route.

Joint secretary of shipping ministry Rabindra Kumar Agrawal said Odisha had a huge location advantage for transport of thermal coal. The coal from MCL coalmines could be evacuated to the ports through railway and the National Waterway 5.

The 623-km National Waterway-5 covers Odisha (532km) and a part of Bengal (91 km). The stretches from Talcher to Dhamra on the Brahmani river is particularly very important as it will also serve the coalfields in Talcher and Ib Valley, said Agrawal, adding that the Talcher-Dhamra stretch has been identified as one of most commercially-viable stretch.

The first phase of National Waterway-5 (201 km) spreads from Jokadia/Pankapal near Kalinga Nagar industrial hub to Dhamra and Paradip ports. The Inland Waterways Authority of India had a signed an agreement with the state government, Paradip Port Trust (PPT) and Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) on June 30, 2014, for the development of the first phase. In the second phase, the stretch between Talcher and Jokadia (131km) will be developed. The two-phase project with a length of 332km will be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore.

Indian Port Rail Company Limited (IPRCL), a company under the Union ministry of shipping, is also developing a rail corridor from Talcher to Paradip. This will help to add 80-MTPA of thermal coal through shipping of coal from mines in Odisha to power plants in southern and western states through Paradip and Dhamra ports.

Agrawal said that the shipping ministry had plans to double the share of coastal and inland water transport from six per cent 12 per cent by 2025.