State-run Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), India’s largest warship builder, has emerged as the sole entity to submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the anchor shipyard role at the proposed ₹27,500-crore greenfield shipbuilding cluster at Dighi near Mumbai.
The EoI was floated by National Shipbuilding & Heavy Industries Park Maharashtra Ltd (NSHIPML), an equal joint venture between the Maharashtra Maritime Board and Mumbai Port Authority. The selected anchor shipyard will be required to invest at least ₹7,500 crore in developing its shipbuilding and ship repair facility.
As part of the eligibility criteria, the applicant must demonstrate access to financing through a letter of comfort, letter of intent or in-principle sanction from a recognised lending institution, besides providing evidence of equity or promoter funding commitment.
MDL’s interest in the Dighi project could have implications for Andhra Pradesh, which has been pursuing the Mumbai-listed shipbuilder to become the anchor shipyard for the proposed greenfield shipbuilding cluster at Dugarajapatnam.
Dighi and Dugarajapatnam are among five greenfield shipbuilding clusters that have received in-principle approval from the National Shipbuilding Mission. The other proposed clusters are at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, Kuchhadi in Gujarat and Kendrapada in Odisha.
The Dighi cluster is planned across around 2,000 acres in two land parcels, with 2.6 km of waterfront and a 14-metre draft in protected waters along Dighi Creek. The Maharashtra government is expected to lease the land for 60 years, extendable by mutual consent.
The anchor shipyard will be responsible for developing and operating shipbuilding and ship repair facilities, including dry docks, slipways, ship-lifts, fabrication areas, utilities and other yard-specific infrastructure. The facility is required to achieve a design capacity of at least 0.5 million gross tonnes (GT) annually within 10 years.
Located close to Mumbai and adjacent to Dighi Port, the cluster offers MDL potential synergies in procurement, logistics, manpower and management oversight. The location also provides connectivity with the Pune-Kolhapur industrial belt and the planned Dighi Smart City.
NSHIPML has appointed Haskoning India Consulting Ltd to prepare the Techno-Economic Feasibility Study and Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed Dighi shipbuilding cluster.