Govt to invite EoI for Rs 41,000 cr international transhipment port at Great Nicobar Island

The project will be completed in four phases with a total estimated cost of Rs 41,000 crore.

The project will be developed on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis via Landlord mode.

The PPP Concessionaire shall have the flexibility to develop storage area, container handling equipment and other infrastructure based on concessionaire’s own market and business assessment subject to the Minimum Guaranteed Traffic.

The Concessionaire would be awarded a long-term PPP concession of 30 to 50 years (based on requirement), and will be responsible for the provision(s) of port services and shall have the rights to levy, collect and retain charges from port users.

Phase 1 is proposed to be commissioned in the year 2028 with a handling capacity of around 4 Million TEUs, increasing to 16 Million TEUs in the ultimate stage of development.

The estimated cost for Phase 1 of the proposed transhipment port is around Rs 18,000 crore which includes the construction of breakwaters, dredging, reclamation, berths, storage areas, building and utilities, procurement and installation of equipment and development of the port colony with core infrastructure is going to be developed with the government support.

The project focuses on three key drivers which can result in making it a leading container transhipment port, i.e. strategic location in terms of proximity (40 nautical miles) with the International shipping trade route, availability of natural water depth of over 20m and carrying capacity of transhipment cargo from all the Ports in the proximity including Indian Ports.

Other projects include airport, township and power plant as the government is looking at the holistic development of the islands to bridge the gaps in infrastructure and improve economic opportunity for rapid increase in size for all types of vessels, from feeders to the large inter-continental carriers.

Currently, nearly 75% of India’s transhipped cargo is handled at ports outside India. Colombo, Singapore and Klang handle more than 85% of this cargo with 45% of this cargo handled at Colombo Port.

Indian ports can save $200-220 Million each year on transhipment cargo.

Several other allied businesses viz. ship chandlery-ship supplies, ship repair, crew change facility, logistics value-added services, warehousing and bunkering also planned at this Transhipment Port.

Additionally, there is a potential of the creation of around 1700-4000 incremental direct jobs by end of this project.