The first and largest greenfield port of Maharashtra, Dighi Port with its world-class infrastructure and end-to-end logistics solutions, posseses the potential to become the centre of vital marine business initiatives
Developed by Balaji Infra Projects Ltd (BIPL) under a 50 year buildown- operate-share-transfer (BOOST) Concession Agreement with the Maharashtra Maritime Board, Dighi Port is the first and largest Greenfield port of Maharashtra. It is being developed as a multipurpose, multi-cargo, all-weather port with deep draught, direct berthing facilities and modern cargo handling equipments. The port is also equipped with adequate stack yards and warehousing facilities, back-up areas and has a land bank of approximately 1600 acres.
Strategic Location
The port is located on the banks of Rajpuri Creek in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. It is one of the deepest ports in Maharashtra, its location within a natural harbor and exclusive channel offering a depth of 12.5m. With cargo handling terminals on either banks of the creek, the port can handle all types of cargo in all weather conditions. It is located at a distance of 42 nautical miles (NM) from Mumbai Port and 170 km south of Mumbai by road. The port is also connected to the National Highway 17 (NH 17) which is 45 kms from the port, by the state highway. The nearest Central Railway rail head Roha is 35 kms away. Port Development & Technologies Dighi Port is being developed on the two banks of the Rajpuri Creek,the south bank (Dighi Side) and the north bank (Agardanda Side) . Under the Phase-I, five multipurpose berths will be developed and will offer an alongside depth of 14.5 m. In addition, two multipurpose berths having a single quay length of 650 m have been developed on the south bank, which is the longest quay length by a non-major port in the state of Maharashtra. The north bank will offer three multipurpose berths having a total quay length of 1100 m. Piling work for the berths is in progress and all three berths are likely to be ready by last quarter of 2014. The north bank will be used for handling containers and other clean cargo. The berths are equipped with multipurpose Gottwald Mobile Harbour Cranes for efficient handling of cargo. The port plans to handle bulk, break-bulk cargo such as agri products, bauxite, cement, clinker, coal, fertilizer, steel etc. and liquid cargo at the south bank. Currently the port is handling bauxite, coal and steel cargo on a regular basis. It has successfully handled Post Panamax and Capesize vessels having a DWT (deadweight tonnes) of up to 1,55,000 million tonnes. Average discharge rate at the port has been in excess of 1000 million tonnes per hour. The port has handled in excess of 4 million tonnes of cargo till date. Total installed capacity in Phase-I will be 30 million tonnes. Under Phase-II, the port will offer a depth of 16 m and a capacity to handle 60 million tonnes of cargo. On completion of Phase-III, Dighi Port will offer a depth of 20m and will have a capacity to handle 90 million tonnes of cargo. Effective Connectivity While Dighi Port enjoys a strategic location, it is also connected with an efficient road and rail network. These facilities give it a further leverage.
Road: Both banks of the port are connected to NH 17 via four state highways (SH). The north bank is connected via SH 92, 96 and the south bank is connected via SH 97 and 98. Joint inspection and survey of the state highways has been completed by PWD (Public Works Department) and Dighi Port Ltd. Land for two-laned roads with paved shoulder is available on all state highways, giving the port a four lane facility. NHAI has also commissioned a study through Feedback Ventures to upgrade SH 97 and SH 92 to four and six lanes, while work on four laning of NH 17 is in progress. All development works as per previous schedule have been completed and permission has been received from PWD to develop the state highway on BOT basis.
Rail: Dighi Port has received an approval from Ministry of Railways to develop the railway siding at the port under the ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’ (SPV) model of its recently announced 3i Policy. Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) is a strategic partner and has invested 26 percent in the project. The port will be connected to the nearest railway head, Roha, which is 35 kms away.
SEZ and FTWZ at Dighi Dighi
Port is designed to provide multiple facilities, unlike other ports. These facilities will be value added components and involv the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) inclusive of a Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ), which will further develop the industrial community along with a rail and road network.
DMIC and DFC
Dighi port is the final node of the Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and is being developed as a multi-modal logistic hub. An industrial city named ‘Dighi Industrial City’ is scheduled to be set up near the port under DMIC. In Maharashtra, DMIC will have industrial parks, for food processing, light manufacturing and heavy manufacturing. It will also have multimodal and logistics supports as well as distribution networks. Around US$ 2 billion is expected to be invested in Dighi Port as part of DMIC, which will facilitate the investment of US $ 6 billion for creating industrial and multimodal logistics hubs in Maharashtra.
Dighi Port will also cater to a number of industrial clusters like Dighi Industrial Area in the Vile Bhagad(Steel, Power and Project Equipment), Pune-Chakan(Automobiles, Agriculture, Chemicals and Ancillaries), Nashik- Sinnar(Power, Agriculture and Ancillaries), Igatpuri, Sinar, Roha and Chiplun regions.
Dighi Port may also be included in the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), a SPV set up by the Ministry of Railways.
National Investment and Manufacturing Zone
The Dighi Port Area has been identified as a one of the seven mega National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZ) under Government of India’s new Manufacturing Policy. A total area of 230 sq km is allocated for the development of the Manufacturing Zone in Dighi Port.
The NIMZ will entail an investment of US$ 5 billion and will include support infrastructure and services like multi-modal logistic hubs, container freight stations (CFS), inland container depots (ICDs), warehousing, cold storages, cargo distribution etc.
Dighi on Completion
Once completed, the integrated port will have few parallels. It has the potential to become the centre of marine business initiative, thanks to its world-class infrastructure and end-toend logistics solutions. Dighi Port has a total sheltered waterfront of 5 km with a capacity to build up to 18 berths to handle up to 90 million tonnes of cargo. The port has plans to increase the existing depth phase wise up to 20 m.
With the gateway ports in Mumbai currently working at full capacity and even at stretched capacity, Dighi Port with its strategic location and well planned infrastructure is geared and ready to handle the cargo generating from North, West and Central India in a hassle free and economically viable manner. Dighi Port offers entire value chain under one umbrella.
