Central Economic Zone Under Sagarmala Scheme

Under the National Perspective Plan of the Sagarmala Programme, fourteen Coastal economic Zones (CEZs) were envisaged including three in the state of Tamil Nadu.

About Sagarmala Programme:

• The Sagarmala Programme is a huge project taken up by the Indian government to improve the country’s logistic sector.
• This Pariyojana falls under the governance of the Ministry of Shipping of India.
• Covering India’s longest coastline of 7,517 km, waterways of 14,500 km, and global maritime trade pathways, the Sagarmala Project aims to promote industrial port-led development in the country.

Port-led Industrialization

• Vision of the Sagarmala Programme is to reduce logistics cost and time for the movement of EXIM and domestic cargo. Development of port-proximate industrial capacities near the coast, in future, is a step in this direction.
• In this regard, the concepts of Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs), Coastal Economic Units (CEUs), Port-Linked Industrial & Maritime Clusters and Smart Industrial Port Cities have been introduced.
  • Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs): CEZs could be spatial economic regions comprising of a group of coastal districts or districts with a strong linkage to the ports in that region. CEZs are also envisaged to tap synergies with the planned industrial corridor projects
  • Coastal Economic Units (CEUs): CEUs will be specific industrial estate projects with a demarcated boundary similar to the DMIC nodes. The CEUs will house the industrial clusters / projects proposed within the CEZ.
• Each CEZ will consist of multiple CEUs and more than one industrial cluster can be housed within a CEU.
  • Within each industrial cluster there can be several manufacturing units.
  • To accelerate the CEU development process, it is proposed that CEUs be prioritized in locations where land parcels are available in areas close to a deep draught port and with strong potential for manufacturing.
• An Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) was constituted under the aegis of NITI Aayog for development of CEZs in India.
  • As recommended by IMC, the institutional framework for development of CEZs would be similar to the institutional framework adopted by DMICDC for development of industrial corridors and industrial node
• The development of CEZs will be taken up in phases wherein the first phase of development would focus on developing two large CEZs as pilots.