The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the development of mega Rs 76,200 crore all-weather greenfield deep-draft port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra, signalling then National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s intent to give continued thrust to public investment in infrastructure.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to viability gap funding, for Rs 7,453 crore offshore wind energy projects, including one in Gujarat, and a Rs 2,870-crore project for the expansion of Varanasi airport. It also approved viability gap funding, for Rs 7,453-crore offshore wind energy projects, including one in Gujarat.
On completion, the new port on west coast will have a cumulative capacity of 298 million metric tonnes/annum, and will be among the top 10 in the world. It will be constructed by Vadhavan Port Project, an SPV formed by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority and Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), in a 74:26 joint venture, and will involve substantial private investments. The project cost includes the cost of land development of core infrastructure, terminals and other commercial infrastructure in public-private partnerships (PPP) mode.
“Today, in the country we have 20 million TEUs (Twenty-foot equivalents) capacity in all ports put together. Compared to this, Vadhavan Port alone will have 23 million TEUs. This port will alone have more capacity than all ports together in the country now,” information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
Road connectivity between the port and national highways, and linkage to the existing rail network and the upcoming Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor have also been approved. “The port will comprise nine container terminals, each 1,000 metres long, four multipurpose berths, including the coastal berth, four liquid cargo berths, a Ro-Ro berth, and a Coast Guard berth.”
The Cabinet also approved increases in the range of 1.4-12.7% in the minimum support prices (MSP) of 14 crops for the 2024-25 kharif season (July-June), but raised the support price for paddy, the key summer crop, by a relatively modest 5.35% to Rs 2,300/quintal.