Kokan Bhumi Pratishthan hosted Advantage Kokan seminar at the sixth edition of Global Kokan Festival, held at CIDCO Exhibition and Convention Center, Vashi, Navi Mumbai on January 8, 2018. This Seminar threw light on the ease of doing business and easy transportation of goods in Kokan region. Kokan region has been an important part of the country due to its proximity to the financial capital of Mumbai and the industrial belt of Thane and Vasai. JSW, Maharashtra Maritime Board, Kokan Railway, CIDCO and others participated in the seminar. Global Kokan Festival with its theme ‘Advantage Kokan’ aims to educate the people and entrepreneurs of ease of doing business in the Kokan region.
Advantage Kokan gave a glimpse of Kokan changing with constant development and its new infrastructure development projects, which is said to benefit the region in terms of road construction, new airports, ports and related infrastructure. The seminar covered various topics like basic facilities and Kokan’s development, port development where spokespersons from government agencies like CIDCO, MPT, JNPT, MMRDA shared details on their projects like Sewri-Nhava Sheva Bridge, International Airport in Navi Mumbai, JNPT-Delhi Freight corridor, etc and how it will affect the economy of the Kokan region.
Sanjay Yadavrao, chief organiser, Global Kokan and Kokan Bhumi Pratishthan, shared, “Global Kokan has been working tirelessly with the government to get approvals for various projects which were put forth during the last Global Kokan Festival. Fast developing infrastructure projects like the sealink from Sweri to Nhava Sheva, boat services to various parts of Maharashtra and Goa, four new airports, etc, will connect the whole country to this region which will bring close various cities to Kokan region and helping in reverse migration from urban to rural areas, thus boosting the economy.”
Kokan railway is playing a major part in developing the reach of railways to this region. N M Telang, chief personnel officer, Kokan Railways, said, “Kokan railways is soon starting patch construction of dual railway lines in the region. It will also be starting new superfast trains which will run at 200 kms, enabling people to do day trips to Kokan; several new trains stations on the Kokan railway will generate more business as these places which were previously not connected by rail. Neeraj Bansal, deputy chairman, JNPT, further added, “Ports will also play a key role in the development of the state. With the huge amount of coastline available, Maharashtra has the potential to use the coasts to create new ports which in turn will generate more jobs for the youth of the region.”
Global Kokan laid the ground work for several projects like establishing a Marine University in the Kokan region, finalising a connecting road and railways network connecting various ports and tourist places to the national highway. These projects are expected to enable the region to prosper and be recognised as the fastest developing region in the country. KBP was successful in getting government approval for several projects like four-lane Mumbai-Goa highway, coastal highway connecting Mumbai to the whole Kokan region, two-lane tracks for Kokan Railway, to improve tourism in the villages, 25 villages have been selected and every year INR 50 crore is being provided to these villages to improve their infrastructure and give a boost to the tourism economy.
The event is supported by government departments such as MTDC, agriculture, fisheries, MPEDA, CIDCO, Maharashtra Maritime Board, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and more. The event was co-organised by Make in India and MTDC.
