Mumbai to get second port

The country's financial capital is all set to get its second port, with the diversified Yogayatan Group today announcing plans of investing Rs 250 crore for a mid-size terminal within the municipal limits.
"We will be investing Rs 200-250 crore to construct a mid-sized all-weather port in the Thane creek near Mankhurd. The port will be operational in the next three months", Group Chairman Rajendra Singh told PTI.
The foundation stone laying ceremony for the project will be held on Friday and is likely to be attended by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Singh said the group had applied for a concession to the Maharashtra Maritime Board in 2001 and has now received all the necessary permissions to start the construction work.

The decision of the Mumbai Port Trust to focus only on 'clean cargo' is the initial business opportunity for the new port, Singh said, adding that biggest focus will be on landing coal for Tata Power which now comes from MbPT.
The port's draft will vary between 5.5 metres during low tide and 8.5 metres during high tide, and it will have an initial capacity to handle 8 million tonne of bulk cargo including coal, steel and cement, he said.

"With this draft, we can accommodate the barges which will carry the cargo to land from mother ships anchored deep inside the sea," Singh said.

The group has bought 10 acres of land for the port, he said, adding that it is well connected to the Mumbai-Pune highway and also has rail connectivity as it is very close to the Mankhurd station on Harbour line.
The group, whose assets run into "thousands of crore", will be funding the construction fully through internal accruals and will not be taking any bank loan for the same, Singh said, adding that it doesn't have any debt though its interests are spread across a variety of capital-intensive sectors like infrastructure, petrochemicals, realty etc.
The Yogayatan Group has drawn up a five-phased plan of expansion to go into areas such as ship building and repairs, passenger terminal, container terminal and a 200 MW power plant to run either on coal or gas, involving an investment of over Rs 2,500 crore.

Singh said the government's apathy to development of ports and the activism by non-governmental bodies tend to stall development, which are the major deterring factors.