Mumbai, May 25 (PTI) The government plans to develop the country's premier container port Jawaharlal Nehru Port as a fully smart port within one year, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Thursday.

Speaking at the 34th anniversary of the JNPA, the Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways said the government wants the facility to compete with the best ports in the world.

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"The government will develop JNPA into a fully smart port within one year. We want it to be a fully electronically connected system for better services," the minister said.

He also said that Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) has seen 29 industrial units coming up in its SEZ under the Sagarmala Project.

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The SEZ project at JNPA is part of the port-led industrialisation plan, developed on 277.38 hectares of freehold land by the JN Port, incorporating the land use plan of the port.

An initiative under the Sagarmala national flagship policy of the shipping ministry, the SEZ is aimed at boosting exports, generating employment, investment and captive cargo by enabling port-led industrialisation.

The facility is operational since July 2021.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority posted record growth in container traffic at 6.05 million TEUs (Twenty-foot equivalent units) in FY23, a growth of 6.4 per cent year-on-year.

The total container traffic at the port in the fiscal ended March 2022, was recorded at 5.68 million TEUs.

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