Source: ET Infra
The Public Investment Board has cleared the construction of a new deep water major port at Vadhavan near Dahanu in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, estimated to cost some Rs76,220 crores, and recommended the mega project to the Union Cabinet for a final nod, multiple government sources said.
The Public Investment Board headed by T V Somanathan, Finance and Expenditure Secretary, Finance Ministry, considered and approved the new port project.
In a separate development, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change granted environmental and coastal regulation zone clearance for the project on Friday based on the recommendations of the Expert Appraisal Committee.
With 15 days of getting the final investment clearance from the Union Cabinet, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) is expected to float tenders for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, port officials said.
The 298 million tonnes (mt) capacity a year port, will be India’s 13th major port (owned by the Union Government) and the first major port to be developed in partnership with a state government (Maharashtra).
It will be constructed by Vadhvan Port Project Ltd, a joint venture between Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (74 percent stake) and Maharashtra Maritime Board (26 percent equity), in two phases under the landlord model, per the government policy.
Vadhavan will be the first major port to be built in more than two decades (the last was Kamarajar Port in Tamil Nadu which started operations in February 2001).
Vadhavan Port will be designed to handle 24.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year – a capacity that no other Indian ports have due to natural limitations – from 9 container terminals each with a straight 1,000 metres long quay (berth) of which 7 terminals will have container storage yard located directly behind the quay apron while the back-up area for two terminals is located about 1 km behind the quay. The deep-water port will be designed to accommodate container ships with a capacity to carry over 24,000 twenty-foot equivalent unts (TEUs).
