After several hiccoughs, the Mumbai Port`s Offshore Container Terminal project which had faced plenty of flack and controversy is nearing completion.
The Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) had signed an agreement in December 2007 with ICTPL, a joint venture of Gammon India and Dragados of Spain to build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) the 1.2 million TEU annual capacity terminal.
Some of the hurdles it faced in its execution particularly with regards to connectivity has now been ironed out and the terminal is scheduled to open in October.
Containers must traverse the entire length of the island city to access of the highways or the national railway network, but MbPT has managed to bypass these impediments according to traffic officials.
Rail lines are already saturated with passengers and four-hour window at Raoli near Wadala junction had to be offered to move the cargo in and out of the city.
This has been mitigated by laying new tracks between Wadala and Kurla on land mostly owned by the Mumbai Port Trust. From here intermodal cars will connect with national railway network.
After Kurla the tracks will be diverted to join the railway network. The MbPT proposes to finance the project, and the railway is expected to lay the tracks by October. The new line between Wadala and Kurla will bypass congested areas and move freight in and out of the port.
Containers will also move by road along an elevated corridor from Wadibunder Chembur in the distant suburbs. Construction of the elevated road by MMRDA and this is due open next October.