Cabinet clears Rs 76,220-crores mega sea port on west coast

The project cost includes the cost of land, development for core infrastructure, terminals and other commercial infrastructure in the public-private-partnerships mode. The Union Cabinet approved the development of a Rs. 76,220-crore all-weather greenfield deep draft major port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra, which, on completion, will be among the top 10 ports of the world. The project will be implemented by a special purpose vehicle, Vadhavan Port Project, to be formed by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority and the Maharashtra Maritime Board with a shareholding of 74% and 26%, respectively. The project will be located 130 km from Mumbai and 150 km from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, the country’s largest container port.

The Cabinet also approved establishing the road connectivity between the port and national highways by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and rail linkage to the existing network and the upcoming Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor by the Ministry of Railways. The port will comprise nine container terminals, each 1,000-meter long; four multipurpose berths, including the coastal berth; four liquid cargo berths; a Ro-Ro berth and a Coast Guard berth. The project, aligned with the objectives of the PM Gati Shakti, will further economic activity and also have the potential for direct and indirect employment opportunities for around one million individuals.

It involves reclamation of 1,448 hectare of area in the sea and construction of 10.14 km of offshore breakwater and container/cargo storage areas. The project will create a cumulative capacity of 298 million ton per annum, including around 23.2 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalents) of container handling capacity. Capacities created will also aid the trade flow through India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and the International North-South Transportation Corridor. The port’s state-of-the-art terminals will be capable of handling mainline mega vessels plying on international shipping lines between the Far East, Europe, the West Asia, Africa and the Americas.