The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has appointed Ravish Kumar Singh as the new Deputy Chairman of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) for a five-year term. Singh, a 2009-batch Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer, is expected to assume charge on or after December 6.
His appointment completes the port’s new leadership team, following the induction of IAS officer Gaurav Dayal as Chairman on October 24. JNPA had been without a full-time Chairman since January 2024, with Deputy Chairman Unmesh Wagh holding additional charge.
The leadership transition comes as JNPA accelerates work on the mega Vadhvan Port project in Maharashtra — a ₹76,220-crore greenfield development set to become India’s largest public port, with a planned capacity of 298 million tonnes annually, including 23.2 million TEUs.
Tendering activity is in full swing for key components, including a 10.14-km breakwater estimated at ₹5,300 crore, for which major infrastructure firms such as L&T-Archirodon, Afcons, Cemindia-NMDC Marine, and HCC-Vishwa Samudra have submitted initial bids.
Strong consortia led by Boskalis–NMDC and Adani Ports with Van Oord, Jan De Nul and ISDPL are also preparing to bid for a ₹19,238-crore dredging, reclamation and offshore bund package under the PPP Hybrid Annuity Model — a first for an Indian port project.
With multiple EPC and PPP components progressing simultaneously, Vadhvan Port is set to reshape India’s maritime infrastructure landscape.
