Union Cabinet gives approval for setting up new Major Port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, has given its ‘in-principle’ approval for setting up a Major Port at Vadhavan near Dahanu in Maharashtra. The total cost of the project is likely to be Rs.65,544.54 crore.

Vadhavan port will be developed on “land lord model”. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be formed with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) as the lead partner with equity participation equal to or more than 50% to implement the project. The SPV will develop the port infrastructure including reclamation, construction of breakwater, besides establishing connectivity to the hinterland. All the business activities would be undertaken under PPP mode by private developers, according to a PIB release.

The position of JN Port, the biggest container port in India, is 28^thin the world with a traffic of 5.1 million TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units). Even after the completion of 4th terminal at JN Port with a capacity increase up to10 million TEUs by 2023, it will stand as the 17^thlargest container port in the world. With the development of Vadhavan Port, India will break into the countries with top 10 container ports in the world.

Maharashtra has India’s largest container port at JNPT which caters to the hinterland of Maharashtra, North Karnataka, Telangana, secondary hinterland of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, NCR, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. There is a need for a deep draft port that will accommodate the largest Container Ships in the world and also cater to the spill over traffic from JNPT port once its planned capacity of 10 million TEUs is fully utilised.

JNPT and Mundra, the two largest container handling ports of the country (for mid size container ships only), have drafts of 15 M and 16 M respectively, while the world’s largest container handling modern deep draft ports require a draft of 18M-20M. The Vadhavan port has a natural draft of about 20 meters close to the shore making it possible for it to handle bigger vessels at the port. Development of Vadhavan Port will enable call of container vessels of 16,000-25,000 TEUs capacity, giving advantages of economies of scale and reducing logistics cost.