Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for a girls’ hostel at the Indian Maritime University (IMU) Kochi campus and virtually inaugurated infrastructure projects across six IMU campuses, marking a major push towards modernizing maritime education in India. The total estimated cost of these 17 projects is ₹67.77 crore.
The newly announced girls’ hostel in Kochi, to be developed at ₹13.11 crore, aims to enhance accommodation facilities for female maritime students. The Minister also unveiled a series of upgrades across IMU campuses in Chennai, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai Port, and Visakhapatnam, which include simulators, solar power plants, sports amenities, and hostel renovations.
Speaking at the ceremony, Sonowal emphasized the Centre’s commitment to strengthening the maritime education framework. “These projects represent a transformative step towards aligning our maritime education with global standards,” he said. In Dibrugarh, stakeholders in the logistics and shipping sectors welcomed the developments, seeing it as a boost to skilled manpower critical for inland waterway transport along the Brahmaputra. Local maritime training institutes also expressed interest in potential collaborations with IMU for talent development.
