Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Mandates Drone-Assisted GIS Mapping Across All 12 Major Ports to Secure Industrial Land Banks for Mega-Terminals, Green Hydrogen Hubs, and Port-Led Industrial Cities

NEW DELHI — In a major land-governance reform to support the long-term expansion of India’s maritime infrastructure, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has ordered all 12 Major Port Authorities to immediately initiate a comprehensive, forensic land audit of all unutilized, vacant, and leased port-owned land parcels. The directive, issued following a national maritime review chaired by Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, aims to systematically inventory every acre of coastal and inland property held by public port trusts to safeguard future development corridors under the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.

The ministry noted that while India aims to expand total commercial cargo handling capacity beyond 700+ million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) of new capacity by 2030–31, unstructured legacy encroachments, expired leasehold titles, and unmapped vacant land plots pose significant risks to quayside mechanization, dedicated rail freight sidings, and port-adjacent multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs).

Mandatory GIS Mapping and Digital Registry Architecture

Under the new compliance directives, all Major Port Authorities—including Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), Deendayal Port Authority (Kandla), Paradip, V.O. Chidambaranar (Tuticorin), and Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (Kolkata)—must compile and submit an audited digital spatial master plan within 90 days:

  • High-Resolution Drone and Satellite Surveys: Port authorities are directed to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and LiDAR mapping to establish real-time, millimeter-accurate 3D topographic databases of all territorial landholdings.

  • National Portal Integration (Rail Bhumi & PM Gati Shakti): Spatial datasets must be integrated into the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan GIS platform and synchronized with national property-tracking registries, ending operational silos between port estates and central infrastructure bodies.

  • Forensic Lease and Title Audits: Ports must examine legacy leases granted over decades, identifying non-compliant tenants, chronic sub-leasing violations, and under-utilized industrial allotments to reclaim strategically vital parcels for state-sponsored modernizations.

  • Encumbrance-Free Corridor Reservation: Port administrations must formally mark out and geo-fence clear transit rights-of-way (RoW) dedicated strictly to future high-speed road bypasses, heavy-haul rail chords, and utility corridors.

Policy Commentary and Government Directives

Addressing senior port chairpersons and transport administrators in New Delhi, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal emphasized:

"Land is the single most critical asset for any global maritime gateway. As India scales its industrial manufacturing output and quadruples commercial port handling capabilities toward the 2047 horizon, we cannot permit prime coastal acreage to lie idle, trapped in litigation, or locked behind non-productive allocations.

Every single square metre of Major Port land must be mapped, accounted for, and optimized. This nationwide land audit provides the statutory transparency needed to secure future expansion corridors—ensuring that when our ports require new berths, deep-draft rail sidings, or green hydrogen bunkering setups, infrastructure execution proceeds without delay."

Accelerating Port-Led Industrial Urbanization

Senior policy analysts note that the land audit will unlock valuable capital through long-term leases under competitive bidding mechanisms, while giving existing compliant concessionaires a Right of First Refusal (RoFR) for secondary capacity expansions.

By eliminating real estate disputes and creating unencumbered, pre-cleared industrial land banks within port limits, the Ministry expects to accelerate private capital investments under public-private partnership (PPP) models, lowering container dwell times and positioning Indian major ports to compete directly with global maritime hubs like Singapore and Jebel Ali.