The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has allowed setting up a new major port in ecologically sensitive Dahanu taluka area at Vadhavan in Palghar district of Maharashtra.
MoEF&CC has stated that ports as an industry are allowed in the ecologically areas which include Dahanu. The project is estimated to entail an investment of Rs 65,544.54 crore.
MoEF&CC conveyed its stand on the issue in early June 2020 to the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority, which had raised objections to the Vadhavan project, planned to handle some 254 million tonne of cargo, including 9.87 million TEUs.
The MoEF&CC’s stand will remove a big hurdle in the development of the port, to be undertaken by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
JNPT will apply to the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) attached to MoEF&CC by early July 2020, seeking environmental and coastal regulation zone clearances for the project, which will be the 13th major port to be owned by the Centre.
Vadhavan will be set up as a corporate port under the Companies Act. It will be developed as a landlord port, with the port company building the basic port infrastructure, while berths, terminals and associated facilities will be constructed by private firms in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
The port will not be constructed on the land side but off-shore, by reclaiming 567 ha from the sea, spread over two-three phases. Phase-I of the project will cost over Rs 10,000 crore.
Meanwhile, JNPT has floated a tender to undertake detailed engineering for the project and the port authority hopes to finalise master plan, design and investment plan within a year.
A key component of the new port will be 11.2 km long breakwater whose tail will rest near the shore, while the head will be in the sea at a depth of 18 mtr, making it one of the deepest breakwaters for a port in the world. The construction of the breakwater alone will cost about Rs 8,000 crore.
Vadhavan Port will have a depth of 20 mtr, allowing it to handle container vessels with a capacity to carry as much as 25,000 TEUs, giving advantages of economies of scale and reducing logistics cost.