The planned international container transhipment port at Galathea Bay in the Great Nicobar Island, estimated to cost some Rs44,000 crores, will be built by a special purpose vehicle formed by four state-owned major ports comprising Deendayal Port Authority, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, Paradip Port Authority and VOC Port Authority, a government official said.
Each of these four major ports will hold a 20-25 percent stake in the SPV and develop the basic infrastructure such as dredging and breakwater construction of the new port after which cargo handling operations would be outsourced to private specialists in the field, the official said, asking not to be named.
“The detailed project report (DPR) for the new port and the proposal is ready, let us see how the project structuring is decided by the Cabinet,” the official said.
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has notified the international container transhipment port at Galathea Bay as a ‘major port’ or those owned by the Union government.
When constructed, this will be the 14 th major port in the country.
The new port will be developed in four phases with the first phase slated for commissioning in 2028 with a capacity to handle some 4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
The capacity will be expanded to 16 million TEUs by 2058.
(source: ET Infra)