APSEZ received approval of Rs 45,000-cr Mundra Port capacity expansion

AHMEDABAD : Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) which plans to more than double the capacity at Mundra Port in Gujarat has received the environmental and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) approval from the Centre.

The expansion involves reaching 514 million tonne with an investment of Rs 45,000 crore. The port, located in Kutch district, currently has a design capacity and environmental and coastal regulation zone approval for handling 225 MT of cargo a year, including 9.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). APSEZ had applied to the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) attached to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to raise the capacity as part of the expansion of the Waterfront Development Plan spread over 3,335 hectares at the Mundra port.

The capacity expansion will cater to multi-purpose, liquid, gas and cryogenic cargo, and is also critical for APSEZ, which aspires to be world’s biggest transport utility and port operator by 2030. Currently, it has a network of 15 ports/terminals in India’s coastline. It also runs the Haifa Port in Israel, and is building a box terminal at the Colombo port.

Mundra, as the leading container port by volumes handled managed 179.6 MT of cargo, including 7.4 million TEUs, in FY24, accounting for more than a fourth of all cargo volumes in India. It is expected to cross the 200 MT mark in cargo handling in FY25.