Cabinet approves setting up a major port in Maharashtra at a cost of Rs 65,000 cr

The government on Wednesday approved setting up a new major port at Vadhavan near Dahanu in Maharashtra at a cost of Rs 65,544.54 crore.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Cabinet gives in-principle approval for setting up a new Major Port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra. Total cost of the project is likely to be Rs 65,544.54 crore," an official statement said.

Vadhavan port will be developed on landlord model, it said, adding a special purpose vehicle (SPV) will also be formed with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) as the lead partner with equity participation equal to or more than 50 per cent to implement the project.

The SPV, the statement said, will develop the port infrastructure, including reclamation, construction of breakwater, besides establishing connectivity to the hinterland, and all the business activities will be undertaken under public private partnership (PPP) by private developers.

The position of JN Port, the biggest container port in India, is 28th in 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 to 10 million TEUs by 2023, it will stand as the 17th largest 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," it said.

The ever increasing size of container ships makes it imperative that a deep draft container port in West Coast of India is developed.

Increasing containerization of cargo in the wake of value-added manufacturing sector makes it important to prepare our port infrastructure for handling import and export to facilitate manufacturing activity.

Container traffic in the JNPT hinterland is expected to grow from 4.5 MTEUs currently to 10.1 MTEUs by 2022-25 when JNPT's potential will be fully exhausted.

The demand for container traffic will further accelerate after the plans for improving logistic infrastructure fructify and the 'Make in India' push drives greater exports and manufacture sourcing to India. PTI ABI BAL