New Delhi: Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Port, Shipping and Waterways, has dedicated the newly built state-of-the-art ship building facility of Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Limited (HCSL) at Nazirgunge, Howrah, West Bengal to the nation. The Rs 180 crore facility, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cochin Shipyard Ltd, a PSE under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, was dedicated to the nation by the Union Minister of PSW and AYUSH in the presence of Shantanu Thakur, Minister of State of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
“I am extremely happy that such a state of the art shipyard is coming up on the banks of the Hooghly in Kolkata. This will provide a great boost in meeting the requirements of new generation, high technology, greener vessels to propel further growth in inland water transport along the National Waterways. This will also be a great impetus to water transport connectivity to the North-Eastern states. The yard will not only enable economic development in the close region, but will also provide direct and indirect employment as well as development of MSMEs and ancillaries,” he said.
HCSL was set up reviving the two-century old HDPEL ship building yard at Nazirgunge and therefore amalgamates its rich and long shipbuilding heritage with the outstanding expertise of CSL, which is the premier shipyard in India with proven experience of designing, building and delivering high quality complex vessels to clients throughout the world. This is an example of a huge contribution to the nation by reviving a sick unit through another PSE and converting it into a modern shipyard.
HCSL aims to position itself as a lead player in inland waterway vessel construction in the country. It will serve the inland water transport sector by construction of inland water vessels for transport of men and material along and across the National Waterways, mainly, Ganga (NW1) and Brahmaputra (NW2). HCSL will also aid in the indigenous construction of green vessels including Hybrid and Pure electric operated vessels, non-conventional fuels and fuel cells technology operated vessels, coastal and inland river vessels, river cruise vessels, river container vessels, LNG and methanol fuel vessels and barges. /BI/
