Rs1,571-cr project to widen Mumbai ports

The Centre on Thursday approved a Rs1,571-crore proposal for deepening and widening sea channels of Mumbai Harbour and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port to allow bigger international container vessels.

The project will also help develop JN Port as hub port on the west coast.

Of the total outlay, Rs1,398.97 crore would be used for dredging and the rest for administrative expenditure, navigational aids and preliminary expenses. The project is scheduled to be completed in 25 months.

According to sources in the shipping ministry, after completion of the project these channels will be able to handle ships up to the capacity of 6,000 TEUs (20-feet Equivalent Units) and bigger size vessels up to a draught of 14 metres by using the tidal window.

The length of the channel will be increased from 29 km to 33.54 km to meet the natural water depth of 14 metres at sea. The channel’s width is also being increased from 325 metres to 370 metres in the straight reach.

The sources said the project will help increase the future traffic due to faster turnaround of larger vessels, save ship waiting and ocean freight costs, avoid costly and time-consuming feeder operations since large ships cannot come up to the port and lead to optimum utilisation of the port capacity.

The cabinet note said the faster turnaround of larger vessels would be incremental to regional economic development and spin-off economic benefits, including economic generation.