New Delhi: The operator of Gujarat-based roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro) ferry service — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “dream project” — has put up for sale the vessel that the PM rode while inaugurating the service in 2017. The operator says the business has been incurring losses.
The service was launched between Bhavnagar’s Ghogha and Bharuch’s Dahej ports.
The ferry service operator, Indigo Seaways Private Limited, in the Gulf of Khambhat has decided to sell the vessel, Island Jade, that Modi rode during the inauguration of the service in 2017 ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections.
Chetan Contractor, head of Indigo Seaways, told The Indian Express that they might turn bankrupt soon owing to the losses and, therefore, they plan to sell Island Jade within a month.
He said there is “no motivation to continue”. “We are clocking losses and it is only a matter of time when we might run into bankruptcy.”
Services of Island Jade and another vessel, Voyage Symphony, were suspended in September this year as adequate draft was not available to run them.
In December 2018, Contractor had written to the PM expressing his inability to continue operations if “regular dredging” was not carried out.
Stating that dredging depths were going down and there were no dredgers available, he said, “We have written that if dredging is not done then we will be compelled to stop the service. We cannot take risk.”
Modi’s ‘dream project’
PM Modi launched the Rs 615-crore worth ferry service in Ghogha in October 2017.
He had described the service as his dream project that will cut down time between Ghogha and Dahej towns by five hours. The ferry service reduced the 360-km land route between Saurashtra region and south Gujarat to 31 km via the sea route.
The PM had also said that the ferry service was his “invaluable gift to India” and claimed that this was the first project of its size in South East Asia. There were plans to connect Mumbai and other states of Gujarat by this service for the benefits of local traders.
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(Edited by Debalina Dey)