INDIAN STATE : GUJARAT

Economic Infrastructure

Gujarat has always been at the centre stage of the Indian economy and it is a land of enormous opportunities. Infrastructure is an important determinant for economic development and a priority for public investment. Gujarat has a sound, extensive and robust infrastructure. The pragmatic approach of the government of Gujarat in the form of strategic planning and consistent and positive policy initiatives has been a major boom for the infrastructure sector. Gujarat is one of the leading states to invite private sector participation in infrastructure through competitive bidding. The government of Gujarat has enacted Gujarat Infrastructure Development Act in order to facilitate and accelerate the process of setting up infrastructure projects with the help of private sector investments. The vision 2010 has 383 infrastructure projects and the investment plan has been adopted as a two-stage approach.

Ports

Gujarat is situated on the western coast of India and is a principal maritime state. The state of Gujarat is endowed with favourable strategic port locations, accounting for nearly 1/3rd of the coastline of India and has 1600 Kms of coastline. Gujarat is the first state to privatize the port sector. The port sector is developing at a commendable pace in the state. The state has 41 large and small ports, of which 11 are intermediate ports and 29 are minor ports. Kandla is a major port and there are two private ports at Pipavav and Mundra. The only chemical port of the country is located at Dahej, near Bharuch. Each port location in Gujarat has a lot of opportunities to offer. These ports of Gujarat handle a lot of port traffic in the country and also millions of tonnes of cargo. The ports target a gross capacity of 100 million tonnes, cornering 25 percent of the cargo and handle 80 percent of the port traffic in the country. Gujarat is the first state to announce a separate port policy, which integrates the development of ports with industrial power generation and infrastructure development. The Pipavav port at Pipavav (Saurashtra) and the Mudra port in Kutch were the country's Greenfield ports to be developed on a Built-own- Operate- Transfer (BOOT) basis. Gujarat Maritime Board has invited the expression of interest for development of 5 Greenfield ports. The state's port policy envisages 10 new sites along the coastline for development. All these developments are believed to encourage coastal shipping of passengers and cargo within the state as well as to and fro from important places outside the state. The state has proposed to introduce a hovercraft/ catamaran service joining different terminals along the Kutch and Saurashtra coast. It is estimated that by 2015, Gujarat's ports will handle 400 million tonnes, i.e., 39 percent of the total national cargo.

Railways

In view of the rapid growth in the industrial sector, the State Government is looking for strategic options to improve transport facilities. Railways have an important responsibility to provide linkages to the upcoming centres of growth. This includes conversion of meter gauge lines to broad gauge and laying of new railway lines. The Kutch railway company on the Gandhidham Palanpur track is implementing gauge conversion. The first project built under the public-private partnership has become operational with a goods train traversing the Palanpur-Samkhiali link. Pipavav Rail Corporation Limited has been given a go-ahead to offer containerized services. The company has emerged as the first player to receive an approval to run container operations on the rail track.

Airports

Gujarat has the highest number of airports in India. The state has 14 airports including an international airport at Ahmedabad. The hub and spoke policy has been adopted in the airways sector. The state plans to develop Ahmedabad and Surat as international airports that would be hubs for that would be hubs for transporting high volume cargo. The state plans a second international airport and plans to invest Rs. 1200 crore on it.

Communication

Nearly 50,000 km of optical fibre network in Gujarat is the largest in Asia and second largest in the world. Gujarat is the state with the highest teledensity & maximum number of Internet service providers. At the end of March 2003, the telephones per 100 population in the state worked out to be 5.89

Road Network

Gujarat has a well laid out road network exceeding 74000 kms. The existing road network exceeding 74,000 kms. The existing road network in the state of Gujarat is rated as one of the best in the country. There has been a tremendous increase in the share of road transportation. Most of the roads are surfaced roads and the growth in surfaced road length has been significant. Most of the roads are getting laned. The road policy includes imparting connectivity to all villages by all weather roads thereby improving quality of life in rural areas. It also includes developing adequate and efficient road system encompassing all transportation needs to ensure smooth and uninterrupted flow of goods and passenger traffic. Constant upgradation of the technology by induction of superior and quicker construction methods and setting high standards of road safety and travel comforts are also part of the policy. The state government has sought private sector participation in construction of roads over bridges at locations where heavily congested arterial routes cross busy rail link.
The total length of road (except non- plan, community, urban and project roads) was 74,018 km by the end of 2001-02. The length of surfaced roads was 70, 702 km at the end of 2001-02.