Vadhvan Port

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Vadhavan Port - also known as Wadhwan Port - is a proposed port in Maharashtra state, India.

The port is to be built on 5000 acres of land reclaimed from the sea near the town of Dahanu, Palghar district. Envisioned as India's first foreshore port, the project is to be jointly administered by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), which has a 74% equity stake, and the Maharashtra Maritime Board, which holds the remaining 26%.

Location

The port would be located 140km north of Mumbai on the coast of Maharashtra state.

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Background

A coal terminal at Dahanu Port was first proposed in the 1990s, but faced strong opposition from local fisherman. In June 2015 it was reported that proponents were helping move the project forward by 1.) making the state government an equity partner in the project along with the central government, and 2.) building the port on reclaimed land. The port would have the capacity to handle 60-100 million tonnes of cargo per annum, mainly coal, and would cost roughly R6,000 crore. It is planned that coal handling would be shifted out of the Haji Bunder Port in Mumbai. The state and central government said they plan to have the port finished within three years, although they have yet to secure permits.

The proposed port is to be built on reclaimed land near Vadhvan, approximately 10km southwest of Dahanu. This location has the advantage of a natural 20-meter draft, allowing larger bulk carriers to come closer to the port than they can at existing ports along the Maharashstra coast such as Mumbai and Nhava Sheva Port. In November 2016, Maharashtra's government requested that India's ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) exclude the proposed port from the Dahanu eco-sensitive zone due to its status as a foreshore facility. Once excluded from the eco-sensitive zone, next steps include JNPT's applying to the MoEFCC for environmental clearance, issuance of terms of reference by the MoEFCC, and preparation of an environmentsl impact assessment. As of April 2017, the new port was projected to be a five-phase, Rs30,000 crore project, with the first phase, capable of handling 25 million tonnes per annum, to be commissioned by 2025.

Interest in the new Vadhavan Port is largely driven by desire to clean up Mumbai Port Trust's Port of Mumbai and JNPT's Nhava Sheva Port by moving "dirty" cargo such as thermal coal and coke offshore. As coal handling is discontinued at these existing ports, the construction of a new large-capacity coal port is seen as critical in keeping India's coal-fired thermal power plants operational.

Local residents continue to express their strong opposition to the Vadhavan Port project. Citing concerns about environmental damage, fishermen from 13 local communities gathered in December 2016 to block the efforts of a team of surveyors who were studying potential locations for the new port. In addition to Vadhavan Port, JNPT is also considering development of two additional coal port projects along the Maharashtra coast, the Rewas Port just south of Mumbai and another port further south in Vijaydurg.

In 2017, the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPA) blocked work on the Vadhavan port due to expected pollution and environmental destruction the port would bring. Since that ruling, the government of India has sought ways to circumvent the DTEPA's authority. In October 2020, India's Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change dissolved the DTEPA and replaced it with an interim board, in what many observers interpreted as a move toward fully stripping Dahanu of its environmentally protected status. Dahanu townsfolk believe that the government is trying to remove environmental protections so that infrastructure expansion plans, including the Wadhwan Port and the nearby Dahanu Power Station.

On December 3, 2020, 1,500 villagers joined a protest to block a JNPT survey of the planned are of the port. Protesters formed a 1.5 km human chain along the beach. Two weeks later on December 15, a major strike took place along India's west coast in opposition to the Wadhwan port. As part of their protest, the fisher community of Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts went on a one-day strike. The strike was supported by the fisherwomen who mainly control the selling business. The auto rikshaw and tempo organisation of Palghar also participated in the strike, and six villages of the Dahanu tehsil in Vadhavan area also remained completely closed throughout the day.

In June 2021, India's National Green Tribunal ordered a work stoppage at the port site until the Central Board Pollution Control Board formed a special panel and submitted a report on the environmental impact of the port. Reporting at this time estimated total cost for the port at Rs 65,000 crore, or approximately US$8.8 billion, more than double the estimate in 2017.

As of November 2022, protests against the port remain ongoing.

In June 2024, India's Union Cabinet approved development of Vadhvan Port. The project is being implemented by Vadhvan Port Project Limited, a joint venture owned by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (74%) and the Maharashtra Maritime Board (26%).

In August 2024, the Hindu news outlet published that Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone of the Vadhvan Port project. The entrusted body of construction, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, announced that the construction will begin in 2025.

Land-acquisition work for road and rail connections began in October 2024, and the first major construction contract, covering near-shore reclamation and shore protection, was awarded to ITD Cementation India Limited in January 2025.

Vadhvan Port is planned for development in two phases. The first phase is expected to provide container-handling capacity of 150 mtpa and is targeted to become operational by 2030. Phase 1 includes four container terminals, three multipurpose berths with a combined quay length of 750 metres, four liquid-cargo berths and one Ro-Ro berth.

The second phase is targeted for approximately 2040, and is designed to have total cargo-handling capacity of 298 million tonnes per annum.

Coal handling

An earlier techno-economic feasibility study projected that Vadhvan Port could handle 2.3 million tonnes of imported coal annually by 2028, increasing to 11.5 million tonnes annually by 2033. The study proposed initially handling coal at multipurpose berths before developing mechanized facilities.

The revised environmental assessment issued in 2023 describes Vadhvan as a container and "clean-cargo" port and does not include coal in its current commodity traffic forecast.

Project Details

• Operator: Vadhvan Port Project Limited
• Owner: Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (74%); Maharashtra Maritime Board (26%)
• Location: Vadhavan, Dahanu, Palghar, Maharashtra, India
• Annual Capacity (Tonnes): 150 million (all cargo)
• Status: Construction
• Projected In Service: 2030
• Type: Imports
• Coal Source:
• Cost: ₹76,220 crore (US$9.1 billion)
• Financing:

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External Articles

Wikipedia also has an article on Vadhvan Port. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.