On Wednesday, India approved a $9.1 billion greenfield port in Vadhavan, Maharashtra, potentially revolutionizing global trade routes from Mumbai to St. Petersburg with a state-of-the-art facility.
India has announced the approval of an ambitious $9 billion mega port linking India with Russia via Mumbai and St. Petersburg. This colossal new port to be built at Vadhavan on the west coast will transform global commerce. It’s set to be one of the world’s largest. This deep water port will not only boost trade but also strengthen the International North-South Transport Corridor, linking Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan as well. The government aims for it to play a vital role in the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. This international trade corridor is projected as an alternative to the strategic Suez Canal, which is as we speak being disrupted by the Houthis supported by the Iranians, Russians, and Chinese. India has announced the approval of an ambitious $9 billion mega port linking India with Russia via Mumbai and St. Petersburg. This colossal new port to be built at Vadhavan on the west coast will transform global commerce. It’s set to be one of the world’s largest. This deep water port will not only boost trade but also strengthen the International North-South Transport Corridor, linking Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan as well. The government aims for it to play a vital role in the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. This international trade corridor is projected as an alternative to the strategic Suez Canal, which is as we speak being disrupted by the Houthis supported by the Iranians, Russians, and Chinese.
According to Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, India has approved a new greenfield port project in Vadhavan on the country’s western coast in the state of Maharashtra. The announcement was made on Wednesday evening.
The announcement was made following the approval of the new port’s development by the federal cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The “all-weather, deep-draft” port in the Palghar district on the Arabian Sea will be built at an estimated cost of nearly $9.1 billion and will rank among the world’s 10 biggest port designs once it has been completed, a Cabinet statement reads.
During the weekend when Iran signed a 25-year infrastructure and investment agreement with China, Iran’s ambassador declared that the new North-South Trade Corridor across the region could become a prime ‘alternative’ to the strategic Suez Canal waterway. The Suez Canal was recently in the news as one of the biggest cargo ships, ‘Ever Given,’ had got stuck and blocked the canal.
The development of terminals, core infrastructure, and commercial infrastructure under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model would all be included in the overall project cost.
Outlining the specifics of the proposal, the Cabinet stated that it will include nine 1,000-meter-long container terminals, four multipurpose berths, a Ro-Ro dock, and a berth reserved for Indian Coast Guard boats.
“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 statement claims.
The new port would potentially create a cumulative capacity of 298 million metric tons (MMT) annually, including around 23.2 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalents) of container handling capacity, according to the statement.
In the meanwhile, the Cabinet emphasized that there will be road and rail connections created between the forthcoming “dedicated rail freight corridor,” the current national highway system, and the new port.
Under the ‘PM Gati Shakti’ plan, a federal infrastructure initiative proposed by Prime Minister Modi during his last term, about 1.2 million direct and indirect employment opportunities would be generated by the new project.
Major International Port
The new port design envisaged creating “state-of-the-art” terminals to handle mega vessels plying on international shipping lines between the Far East, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, the statement said.
The state-backed Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) and the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) have formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Vadhavan Port Project Limited (VPPL), which would develop the project. The JNPA will hold a 74% majority stake in the new project.
During the weekend when Iran signed a 25-year infrastructure and investment agreement with China, Iran’s ambassador declared that the new North-South Trade Corridor across the region could become a prime ‘alternative’ to the strategic Suez Canal waterway. The Suez Canal was recently in the news when one of the biggest cargo ships, ‘Ever Given,’ got stuck and blocked the canal.
Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that Afghanistan’s acting Industry and Trade Minister, Nooruddin Azizi, told Reuters that Russia and Afghanistan plan to build a logistics center for oil transit to South Asia, involving Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, in its northwestern Herat province.
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