JNPT plans Rs2,260 crore road to ease traffic

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s busiest container port, is planning to award Rs2,260 crore road project on build, operate and transfer basis to improve connectivity between the port and the national highways.

Port officials are confident that the contract would be awarded by November and the project would be completed in three years after that.

“The project is currently awaiting certain committee approvals. We are confident of awarding this project by November this year,” N N Kumar, deputy chairman, JNPT, said.

This project is for developing a 43 km stretch, which would include building a couple of flyover, bridges and grade separators.

Specifically, the project entails eight-laning of a 21 km stretch, six-laning of another 22 km, two entries to the planned new international airport and two grade separators at two important junctions close to the port.

JNPT faces huge congestion both on the waterfront and the land side. Also, port officials expect traffic to increase due to second international airport that is coming up in the close vicinity of JNPT.

While the planned fourth terminal is expected to help control congestion at the waterfront, the `2,260 crore connectivity project would ease land-side congestion.

JNPT is an important gateway port on the western coast line. NH17, NH4, NH4B and State Highway 54 are the immediate highways the port roads connect to.

The port witnesses large movement of cargo in all directions, with major inflow and outflow on the Mumbai-Delhi route.

The road project would be awarded under a special purpose vehicle (SPV), Mumbai JNPT Road Company, formed to undertake such connectivity projects.

JNPT holds close to 29.85% shareholding in the SPV while the National Highways Authority of India is a major shareholder with 63.33% stake and state development body, City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (Cidco), has a 6.72% stake.

JNPT handles a little above four million twenty foot equivalent (TEU) of container cargo at three terminals — JNPCT, Gateway Terminals of India and DP World-run Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal.