Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the ₹76,200-crore Vadhavan port on August 30, even as environmentalists, farmers, and fishermen who oppose the project for various reasons plan to protest in the Palghar district.
Palghar, India – October 02, 2022: Protestors at Vadrai Beach, Palghar, line up to spell a phrase meaning ‘Stop the Vadhavan Port’. Thousands of fisherfolk, farmers and adivasi residents of villages across the Konkan poured into the streets to protest the proposed Vadhavan Port in Palghar district’s eco-sensitive Dahanu taluka on Sunday. (HT PHOTO) (Hindustan Times)
Located around 130 km north of Mumbai near Dahanu on Maharashtra’s west coast, the all-weather port, approved by the union cabinet in June, will be the biggest in the country. It will have a natural draft of 20 metres, allowing it to handle the largest ships in the world and be a vital trade corridor between India, West Asia and Europe. It will be one of the top 10 ports of the world, said a union government official.
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The port is being constructed by the Vadhavan Port Project Limited, a special purpose vehicle formed by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) and the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), with a shareholding of 74% and 26%, respectively. The first phase will be ready by 2029, while the second and final phase is expected to be completed by 2039.
According to JNPA chairperson Unmesh Wagh, there are extensive plans to connect the port to the hinterland. It will be connected to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway by a 32-kilometre road and the Mumbai-Vadodara Highway by a 22-kilometre road. It will also be connected to the dedicated railway freight corridor by a 12-kilometre railway line.
The construction of the port, however, has been opposed by locals ever since it was first proposed by an Australian company in 1997. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance I regime gave it a push, but it had to be put on the back burner after activists and local residents raised many environmental concerns, according to Gautam Chatterjee, the former director general of Maharashtra’s shipping ministry.
Local villagers and fisherfolk came together under the Vadhavan Bandar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti (VBVSS) to protest against the project, saying it would be detrimental to the environment and their livelihoods. They pointed out that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had declared Dahanu an ecologically fragile area and restricted setting up industries that harm the environment.
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“There will be immense damage to the fishing industry, farming and environment,” said Narayan Patil from the VBVSS, which has been protesting against the port for 27 years. “The port will be located 6.5 km in the sea. They will reclaim 4,000 acres of land. It will affect water currents, the rains and the breeding of fish. To protect the port, they will also construct a breakwater. Our fishing will be destroyed.’’
Patil informed that the plan to construct the port moved ahead when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government came to power. “It was taken to the drawing board in 2015. Environmental permissions were finally granted in 2024, a little before the elections.” He added that the VBVSS has filed two petitions in the Supreme Court against the construction of the port.
In response to the protestors, Wagh said that it would be a green port right from its inception. “We are going offshore, not cutting trees. We will, in fact, plant trees in the area,’’ he said, adding that the port is crucial to realise the central government’s aim of making India a developed country by 2047.
“JNPA and the Mundhra port will saturate in the next three years, and we require a big port for export-import trade. It is coming at the right time and the right place,” Wagh said. He added that the new port won’t affect the Mumbai Port and the JNPA.
Rahul Asthana, former chairperson of Mumbai Port Authority (MbPA), concurred. “I feel that Vadhavan will complement the Mumbai Port and JNPA. Mumbai Port will not expand, and JNPA has limited expansion scope. Vadhavan will be a port for ships with a deep draft. JNPA and MbPA will not die. Mumbai port gets liquified petroleum cargo and chemicals, and this is consumed locally. JNPA will continue with its primary position for containers.”
However, Amitabh Kumar, retired director general of shipping in the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, believes that the Vadhavan port will eventually either replace JNPA as the container terminal or the latter will become a secondary terminal for smaller ships.
“Vadhavan will be the biggest natural port in the country. All motherships can easily dock in Vadhavan without dredging. Ships are getting bigger, and JNPA has limitations. Mumbai Port is not a container port and it is now dealing with petroleum, cars and a terminal for cruise liners. In the future, cruise liners will flourish, and it will cater to the petroleum needs of the area.”
Chatterjee, meanwhile, believes that the JNPA won’t be affected much, but Mumbai Port might get hit slightly.
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