Centre commences land acquisition for greenfield highway connecting Vadhavan Port in Maharashtra

The central government has commenced land acquisition for the construction of a 32 km long greenfield highway connecting the Vadhavan Port. Around 571 hectares (ha) of land will be acquired for the same. Moreover, the foundation stone for the Vadhavan Port project is expected to be laid in February 2024. The project involves the development of an all-weather port at Vadhavan, 140 km north of Mumbai in Maharashtra. It will be developed as a landlord port by Vadhavan Port Project Limited (VPPL), a joint venture (JV) of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) as the lead partner with equity participation of 74 per cent and Maharashtra Maritime Board with 26 per cent. The estimated cost for the project is Rs 762.2 billion with a capacity of 254 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) including 9.87 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).