Centre approves new port near Kanyakumari

The Centre on Tuesday gave ‘in-principle approval’ for setting up a major port at Enayam near Colachel in Tamil Nadu at an investment of Rs 25,000 crore.

The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also approved setting up of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for development of this port with initial equity investment from the three major ports in Tamil Nadu — V O Chidambaranar Port Trust, Chennai Port Trust, and Kamarajar Port Limited.

“The SPV will develop the port infrastructure, including dredging and reclamation, construction of breakwater, ensuring connectivity links etc,” Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.

“Overall cost of the green field port project is about Rs 25,000 crore including phase 1, which will be implemented at a cost of Rs 6,575 crore,” an official from the Ministry of Shipping told DH.

Private operators will invest about Rs 2,500 crore for the development of terminal berths, yard and equipment in the first phase, the official added.

At present, there are only a few ports in India that have sufficient draft and can match global cargo handling efficiency. Currently, all of India’s transshipment traffic gets handled in Colombo, Singapore and other international ports. Indian port industry loses out up to Rs 1,500 crore of revenue every year.

The proposed port at Enayam, near Kanyakumari, will not only act as a major gateway container port for Indian cargo that is presently transshipped outside the country, but also become a transshipment hub for the global east-west trade route.

The proposed project will also reduce the logistics cost for exporters and importers in South India who currently depend on transshipment in Colombo or other ports, thus incurring additional port handling charges.

Earlier, Gadkari said, the government is proposing to build new green field ports at Vadhavan near Dahanu in Maharashtra and Sagar Island in West Bengal. The Ministry of Shipping has also identified two marine clusters at Saurashtra in Gujarat and Ennore in Tamil Nadu for ship building, repair and recycling.