Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) plans to invest as much as Rs 57,594 crore to expand the capacity of India’s biggest commercial port it runs at Mundra in Gujarat.

APSEZ has applied for environment and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearances for raising the capacity of Mundra by 385 million tons (mt). Mundra currently has approval for handling 225 mt.

The proposed expansion of Mundra’s waterfront development plan (WFDP) includes extending the quay length by another 14,470 metres, augmenting back-up facilities for handling multi-purpose, liquid, gas and cryogenic cargo.

It also involves extending the eastern and western breakwater by 500 metres each in the south port and constructing a 5,000 metre-long breakwater on the eastern side of west port.It necessitates dredging of some 350 million cubic metres of sand and other materials from the sea bed.

The expansion will be undertaken within the approved area of 5,170 hectares of water front development plan, APSEZ wrote in an application filed with the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

“For the expansion of WFDP plan, it is important to utilize the maximum marine development potential,” APSEZ said in the application.

“Based on the future cargo projections and business requirement of the hinterland, it is proposed to develop the port with the flexibility to handle various cargoes. Type of berth and type of cargo is a commercial and business requirement. Hence, expansion plan will be developed with those flexibilities to accommodate berths and storage facilities as multi-purpose. The expansion plan will consist of berths at various locations, material handling area, cargo storage area, operational and utility area, internal connectivity, drainage, greenbelt and various utilities, amenities and bunkering facilities,” the company said.

Mundra is the flagship port of APSEZ, which runs nine ports and terminals on India’s eastern and western coasts accounting for 24 per cent of the country’s port capacity. APSEZ ports handled a combined cargo of more than 200 mt in the year to March 2019.