Gujarat to get India's first roll on-roll off passenger ferry service by April 2017

Rs 550 cr project to bring down travel time from 10 hours currently to 1.5 hours, ease pressure on road and rail network

Gujarat's Dahej is all set to get India's first roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) vessel passenger ferry services around April 2017. The Rs 550 crore project being executed by the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) is expected to bring down travel time between Saurashtra region in Gujarat with its Southern parts significantly.

At present travelling from Ghoga in Saurashtra to Dahej in South Gujarat takes around 10-12 hours for trucks and buses, and even by cars it is not less than 6-8 hours. Once the Ro-Ro ferry service commences, this time would be dramatically shortened to one and a half hours.

Speaking about the project A K Rakesh, vice chairman and managing director of GMB said, "Ro-Ro passenger ferries are common in European countries, however, this is the first such project in India, or for that matter South Asia." Work on building the on-shore and off-shore terminals at Dahej and Ghoga are on, together with approach vessels, link span and pontoons.

Rakesh felt that while these would be ready by around May this year, work on dredging the channel would begin post monsoons. "Monsoons are not considered a good time for capital dredging. The Ro-Ro vessels would require a minimum draft of 5 meters, and therefore, one needs to conduct capital dredging followed by regular maintenance dredging activities at the site," he explained.

Capital dredging activity is expected to take around five and a half months to complete, and hence should be complete by March 2017 (it is expected to begin around October, post monsoons). A Surat-based operator has been selected for the purpose, and operations are expected to start around mid-April 2017.

The project cost was earlier expected to be around Rs 350 crore, however, it got escalated on account of terminal construction and the dredging cost itself is estimated to take around Rs 300 crore.

The Ro-Ro ferry service would not only bring down the transportation time in the region, but would also reduce pressure on the existing road and rail networks, and boost tourism. The distance between Ghogha and Dahej by road is around 360 km, while the sea route is just about 32 km.

Dahej, lying on the east coast of the Gulf of Cambay is almost directly opposite from Ghogha which lies in the west coast of the Gulf of Cambay. Ghogha is just about 20 km away from Bhavnagar, an important commercial center while Dahej is well connected to another key industrial town Bharuch by rail link.

If this project is successful, the GMB has plans to start hovercrafts in the 32 km stretch between Dwarka and Bet Dwarka, important pilgrimage sites in Gujarat.