India's Biggest Port Project: PM Modi To Break Ground For Rs 76,220 Crore Vadhavan Mega-Port In Maharashtra On 30 August

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will break ground on 30 August for India's biggest port project at Vadhavan near Dahanu in Maharashtra’s Palghar district.

On June 20, the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi approved setting up a major all-weather port at Vadhavan, in a bid to bolster India’s maritime infrastructure.

Vadhvan Port Project Ltd. (VPPL), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) created by the state-owned Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) and Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), will jointly develop the gigantic port at an estimated cost of Rs 76,220 crore.

The joint venture, with 74 per cent equity participation from JNPA and 26 per cent from MMB, is a significant milestone in India’s port development strategy as this is the first instance in which the entities owned by the Union government and state government are jointly developing a greenfield port. The port will be developed under the 'landlord' model.

As part of the project, a 20-m draft, capable of berthing large vessels will be created through the reclamation of 1,448 hectares from the sea. As the port will be developed by reclaiming sea land, there is no need for land acquisition to build it.

The port is also designed to accommodate container ships with a capacity to carry over 24,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Given that bigger vessels require at least a 12-20 m draft, the Vadhavan port will enable big mother vessels to anchor. This capability will help reduce logistic costs and avoid the need for transshipment.

The mega-port will have nine container terminals, each 1,000 m long. It will also have four multipurpose berths, including a coastal berth, four liquid cargo berths, a berth for roll-on, roll-off, or Ro-Ro ships, and a Coast Guard berth.

Upon completion in 2030, Vadhavan Port will handle 23.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year. The port is envisaged to have a cumulative cargo handling capacity of 298 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

Rail And Road Connectivity

In terms of connectivity, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways(MoRTH) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will build road linkages between the port and national highways, while the Ministry of Railways will ensure seamless integration with the existing rail network and the upcoming Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor.

The proximity of the port to the Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor (12 km) and the under-construction Mumbai-Vadodara expressway (22 km), is expected to boost its strategic commercial significance.

Thanks to its accessibility to road and rail infrastructure network, the port is set to cater to hinterland industrial areas in Maharashtra, south and north Gujarat, Rajasthan, National Capital Region, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and other central and north Indian states.

The proposed port is also Integral to India’s strategic initiatives such as the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) and the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC).

Vadhavan is expected to emerge as a hub port in the Arabian Sea.

Funding

Multiple domestic and international financial institutions including Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation, and Japan International Cooperation Agency have evinced interest to fund the Vadhavan port project.

The core and common infrastructure including breakwater, dredging, reclamation, shore protection bund, tug berth, approach trestles and unpaved developed land, rail and road linkages, off dock rail yard, rail exchange yard, power and water and internal road will be built by VPPL at a cost of Rs 43,622 crore

While Rs 1,765 crore will be invested by the Ministry of Railways for rail connectivity, Rs 2,881 crore will be infused by road connectivity by MoRTH and NHAI.  Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd will also invest over Rs 300 crores to fund the power infrastructure.

The remaining project cost of Rs 37,244 crore will be invested by the private operators of container terminals, multipurpose berths, coastal cargo berths, RO-RO, and liquid berths selected by VPPL.

The core infrastructure, terminals, and other commercial infrastructure will be developed in PPP mode. 

Vadhavan port will be India's biggest

Currently, the country has 76 operational ports — 12 major and 64 non-major — and nine more are under development. India's total cargo handling capacity countrywide is about 2700 MTPA with an average 60-65 percent utilization.

JNPT ((handling 6.4 million TEUs) and Mundra Port (handling 7.4 million TEUs) together account for more than half of the country’s containerised trade volume. As a way of comparison, Chinese ports cumulatively handle 250 million TEUs against India’s 20 million TEUs. Two of the biggest ports in the world are Shanghai Port and Singapore Port. While Shanghai handles 44 million TEUs, Singapore handles 37 million TEUs.

At a cumulative cargo handling capacity of 298 MTPA, including around 23.2 million TEUs of container handling capacity, Vadhavan port, once complete, will be India's biggest.