The opening up of Galathea Bay on Great Nicobar as a major port will be notified as soon as the International Container Transhipment Port is launched, Sarbananda Sonowal, the ports and shipping minister, informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The proposed transhipment hub, which will have the capacity to receive up to 16 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year, is going to be constructed in four phases at an estimated cost of 43,796 crore.
This port is a key element of the larger Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project that also includes plans to develop an international airport, a power plant, and a township, making the overall cost of the project approximately 81800 crores. Although this development is likely to strengthen Indian maritime trade and strategic location, it has created apprehensions owing to the presence of the Nicobar Islands in the Sundaland Biodiversity Hotspot, a biodiversity-rich area.
Addressing the elements of environmental concerns, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav had said in August that the project has taken up “exemplary mitigation measures”, so that there is a minimum impact on the environment, besides meeting with strategic, national, and defence needs.
Sonowal also added that no new major port has been constructed or commissioned in the past five years, but another upcoming deep-sea port will be located at Vadhvan in the Palghar district of Maharashtra. The project envisions this port having a planned handling capacity and is slated to be 23.2 million TEUs per annum, with an approximate cost of 76,220 crores, and currently, the first phase is expected to be completed by 2030.
The Great Nicobar port, along with the Vadhvan port, together constitute the twenty-billion-dollar investment that is set to enhance the maritime geography of India. The projects will lead to a decrease in the outflow of cargo volumes to countries with foreign transhipment centres, transportation optimisation, and the possibility of expanding trade through the transit of ultra-large container ships. The Great Nicobar port will also emerge as a major link of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, enhancing the regional connectivity as well as strategic capability of India.
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