Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the Ballard jetty in Mumbai, the country’s largest city, on Saturday (20th) to cut the ribbon for the key maritime infrastructure “Mumbai International Cruise Terminal” (MICT). The terminal is the largest in India and is designed to handle 1 million passengers a year, aiming to catapult Mumbai to become one of the world’s cruise tourism hubs.
The Mumbai International Cruise Terminal covers an area of more than 415,000 square feet and can accommodate five cruise ships at the same time, with 72 check-in and immigration counters.
This is an important part of the “Indian Cruise Program”, in order to make Mumbai a world-class cruise tourism mecca, and Indian media expect that the Mumbai International Cruise Terminal will help attract more foreign tourists and drive economic growth. Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sonowal described his home city of Mumbai as having a long maritime history, “as a hub for coastal areas, it has made a significant contribution to India with its thriving economy.”
The Modi government has invested INR 342 billion (about RM16.3 billion) in several large-scale development projects in Gujarat, Modi’s political stronghold, and Modi himself went to Nagar, the fifth largest city in the state, yesterday to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the port complex infrastructure project called “Prosperity from the Sea”, which covers maritime, LNG facilities, renewable energy, highways, healthcare and urban transportation.
