Palghar: In what is expected to become a growth engine in the years to come along India’s west coast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would preside over the ground-breaking ceremony of the Vadhavan Port at Dahanu in the Palghar district of Maharashtra.
The Vadhavan Port which will be one of the top ten ports of the world, upon completion, is an all-weather Greenfield deep-draft major port off the Arabian Sea.
The port (also spelled Wadhawan) is located some 140 km away from downtown Mumbai along the Maharashtra-Gujarat boundary.
The Wadhwan port project was awaited for the past several decades for multiple reasons including Opposition from locals, farmers, fisherfolk and environmentalists’ groups.
The total cost of the project, including the land acquisition component, is Rs 76,220 crore.
The port will be constructed by Vadhavan Port Project Ltd (VPPL), an SPV formed by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) and Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) with a shareholding of 74 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively, official sources said.
This will include development of core infrastructure, terminals and other commercial infrastructure in public-private partnerships (PPP) mode.
There would also be road connectivity between the Vadhavan Port and national highways of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and rail linkage to the existing rail network and the upcoming Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor by the Ministry of Railways.
The port will comprise nine container terminals, each 1,000-meters long, four multipurpose berths, including the Coastal berth, four Liquid Cargo berths, a Ro-Ro berth, and a Coast Guard berth.
The project involves the reclamation of 1,448 hectares of area in the sea and the construction of 10.14 km of offshore breakwater and container/cargo storage areas, the sources said.
The project will create a cumulative capacity of 298 million metric tons (MMT) per annum, including around 23.2 million TEUs (Twenty-foot equivalents) of container handling capacity.
The capacities created will also aid EXIM trade flow through IMEEC (India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor) and INSTC (International North South Transportation Corridor).
The world-class maritime terminal facilities promote public-private partnerships (PPP) and leverage efficiencies and modern technologies to create state-of-the-art terminals capable of handling mainline mega vessels plying on international shipping lines between the Far East, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
The project, aligned with the objectives of PM Gati Shakti program, will add to further economic activity and also have the potential for direct and indirect employment opportunities for around 12 lakh individuals, thereby contributing to the local economy.
Among those who would be present in the function includes Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Ministers of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying S P Singh Baghel and George Kurian.
The function would be held at CIDCO Ground in Palghar.