JNPT plans parallel port at Dahanu

In January this year, Union shipping minister, Nitin Gadkari, let it be known that JNPT would soon develop a parallel port in Maharashtra. He mentioned three locations that had already been identified--Vijaydurg, Revas-Karanja and Dahanu.

JNPT has finally zeroed in on Dahanu. But it is willing to take a second look at Vijaydurg as well, just in case the environment lobby in Dahanu becomes too shrill for comfort. The authorities are aware that almost 15 years ago there were huge protests against a power plant being located there. However, even then, the protests did not deter the government from allowing the power plant to come up there.

"This time, we are taking no chances," says a source close to the shipping ministry. "We are taking all environment mitigation steps first. Moreover, unlike as in the power plant, we are not acquiring any land. We will be taking up the inter-tidal land, and filling it up to reach the point where the draft of the ocean is close to around 20 metres."

The new port will require around 1,000 hectares. Since there will be no displacement of existing people, as no existing land will need to be acquired, the costs of any mitigation will be limited. The central government is set to grant the new port all the clearances that it might require.

This will be the first 20-metre draft port in Maharashtra. Mazgaon Dock, close to Bombay Port, has a draft of barely a few metres (http://www.dnaindia.com/money/interview-guidelines-for-ppp-in-shipbuilding-may-come-in-a-month-1643987). JNPT itself had a draft of just 12 metres, but opted to go in for dredging to increase its depth to 14 metres for a channel length of 33 km. That involved a cost of Rs 1,600 crore.

It is now planning to dredge even deeper to 15 metres. But this additional metre could cost it a whopping Rs 3,000 crore. It is this sharpening increase in costs, as dredging goes deeper, that made JNPT's authorities, headed by its chairman, N N Kumar, decide that deepening the channel to 18 metres would be far too expensive – over Rs 10,000 core – much more expensive than building a new port which could cost it Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore (http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-jnpt-to-see-rs-21000-cr-investments-by-2020-2043981).

Hence, Kumar and his team went about convincing the central government to allow JNPT to stick to a depth of 15 metres only and look for an alternate location for a parallel port.

That gave Maharashtra two benefits. Not increasing the draft to 18 metres at JNPT allowed the height of the proposed Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) connecting Wadala to Nhava Sheva to remain at the same height that was earlier proposed. If bigger ships had been allowed to come into JNPT, the height of MTHL would also have to be raised. That would mean considerably higher costs for the state. By sticking to 15 metres, JNPT saved both itself and the states a huge amount of money.

The second benefit is the state has first all-weather, deep water port. Both Dahanu and Vijaydurg offer a natural depth of 20 metres.

JNPT plans to make this port a multi-product one. "It will cater to bulk, liquid and container traffic," says Kumar, though the focus will be on the first two.

Currently, all coal, oil, food grain or any other bulk product that has to be imported or exported goes to Gujarat's ports. Even Dighi Port, the new port being developed by Vijay Kalantri (though many industry sources believe this to be indirectly controlled by Reliance Industries) is also a bulk port but is unlikely to have a draft of more than 14 metres.

That will make Dahanu (or Vijaydurg) strategically significant. It will enjoy proximity to JNPT's Nhava Sheva terminals. It will also make Maharashtra a good destination for bulk imports and exports.

According to Kumar, the new port will be jointly owned by both JNPT (75%) and the Maharashtra government (25%). According to some sources, the parallel port should be readied in three and five years.

(This is second part of a three-part series)