PM Modi to lay foundation stone for Vadhvan Port in Palghar; address Global FintechFest in Mumbai

Mumbai, Aug 29 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Palghar and Mumbai on Friday to lay the foundation stone for the prestigious greenfield Vadhvan Port, address the Global Fintech Fest and launch other projects, officials said here on Thursday. 

Expected to become a growth engine in the coming years along India's western coast, on completion, the all-weather Vadhvan Port with a deep draft will be one of the top ten sea-ports in the world, to cost a whopping Rs 76,220 crore including the land acquisition costs.

PM Modi will preside over its foundation laying ceremony at CIDCO Grounds in Palghar on Friday morning, around 140 km from Mumbai, near the Maharashtra-Gujarat state boundary.

The project was delayed for decades owing to protests by local farmers and fishers, and is being built by the Vadhvan Port Project Ltd (VPPL), an SPV formed jointly by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority and Maharashtra Maritime Board with shareholding of 74 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively. 

The project would comprise the core infrastructure, terminals, and other commercial infrastructure in the PPP mode, plus road links with the National Highways, rail connections including the Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor.

These include nine terminals, each to be one-km long, four multipurpose berths, including the coastal berth, four liquid cargo berths, a coast guard berth and a Ro-Ro berth.

The project will see reclamation of 1,448 hectare of the Arabian Sea and building a 10.14 km offshore breakwater and container/cargo storage zones.

The port will create a cumulative capacity of 298 million metric tonnes per annum, including around 23.2 TEUs of container handling capacity, in alignment with the PM Gati Shakti initiative.

The capacities created shall aid the EXIM trade flow through IMEEC (India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor) and INSTC (International North South Transportation Corridor).

The world-class maritime facilities shall boost PPPs and leverage efficiencies and modern tech to create the state-of-the art terminals equipped to handle mainline mega-vessels plying on international shipping lines connecting the Far East, Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas. 

The Vadhvan Port would create job opportunities for around 1.20 lakh people and contribute to the local and national economies.

PM Modi shall be joined by Union Ministers Sarbananda Sonawal, S.P. Singh Baghel and George Kurian, Maharashtra Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.

Besides, PM Modi will launch 218 fisheries projects worth Rs 1,560 crore to give a fillip to local infrastructure and more than five lakh jobs for the fisheries sector, the development of Integrated Aquaparks, etc.

PM Modi will set rolling the National Roll Out of Vessel Communication and Support System costing Rs 360 crore, by which 100,000 transponders will be installed in phases on mechanised/motorised fishing vessels in 13 coastal states.

Later in the afternoon, PM Modi will fly to Mumbai for a special session of Global Fintech at the Jio Convention Centre.