- The Union Cabinet in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the development of the National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal in Gujarat.
- The National Maritime Heritage Complex, to be developed near Lothal, the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation site, will be developed in two phases.
- The National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal is being developed by the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways under the Sagarmala Project in collaboration with the Gujarat State Government.
- It is being built on about 400 acres of land in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat at a cost of about Rs 4500 crore. Work on the project started in March 2022.
Lothal
- Lothal is the only known port city of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
- The 4500-year-old archaeological site is located on the banks of the Bhogava River, a tributary of the Sabarmati River.
- Lothal is considered to be one of the port cities with the oldest shipbuilding facility in the world.
- Lothal means ‘mound of the dead’ in Gujarati.
- It was discovered in 1952 by SR Rao, an archaeologist of the Archaeological Survey of India.