Approval granted for development of major all-weather greenfield deep draft port at Vadhan, India

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the development of a major all-weather greenfield deep draft port at Vadhan, which will increase the national container handling capacity by 23.2m teu and facilitate calling of mega size 24,000 teu container vessels. 

The total cost of the project is INR76,220 cr (US$9.1bn) which includes core infrastructure, terminals and other commercial infrastructure in a public-private partnership (PPP) model while the port infrastructure will consist of nine container terminals, each of 1,000 m length, four multipurpose berths, four liquid cargo berths, a roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) berth, a coastal cargo berth and a Coast Guard berth. 

Plans also include reclaiming 1,448 ha in offshore area and constructing breakwater, container/cargo storage areas of 10 km, as well as the establishment of road connectivity between the port and national highways by 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.