Afcons bags ₹5,301 crore contract for Vadhavan Port breakwater project; Adani-linked ITD Cementation among bidders

Afcons Infrastructure wins the ₹5,301.26 crore contract to build India's largest offshore breakwater for the Vadhavan Port, enhancing its cargo capacity.

MUMBAI: In a milestone for the proposed Vadhavan Port near Dahanu, Afcons Infrastructure has secured the contract to construct the offshore breakwater for the deep-draft port project, touted as India’s largest container port. Once completed, the breakwater itself will be the largest ever built for any port in the country.

Afcons bags ₹5,301 crore contract for Vadhavan Port breakwater project; Adani-linked ITD Cementation among bidders

The high-value contract witnessed participation from four major infrastructure consortiums, Larsen & Toubro-Archidon Group (Netherlands), Afcons Infrastructure, ITD Cementation India (part of Adani Group)-NMDC Dredging & Marine, and Hindustan Construction Company-Vishwa Samudra Engineering.

Of these, the first three bidders qualified the technical scrutiny and were shortlisted on Wednesday. On Thursday, the port authorities opened the financial bids.

The planned breakwater, stretching 10.14 km into the Arabian Sea, had an estimated project cost of around ₹5,300 crore. Afcons Infrastructure emerged as the lowest bidder after quoting ₹5,301.26 crore for the project. ITD Cementation India, part of the Adani Group, quoted ₹5,383 crore, while L&T submitted a bid of ₹5,394 crore, an official said.

The offshore breakwater is considered one of the most critical components of the Vadhavan Port project, as it will protect the harbour from rough sea conditions and enable year-round operations at the all-weather port.

Located in Palghar district, the upcoming Vadhavan Port is planned to handle 23.2 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units), a standard measure used in the shipping industry to calculate cargo handling capacity.

The mega port is being developed by Vadhavan Port Project Limited, a special purpose vehicle with 74% stake held by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority and 26% by the Maharashtra Maritime Board.

Being developed at an estimated cost of ₹76,220 crore, the all-weather, greenfield, deep-draft port will become India’s 13th major port and Maharashtra’s third major port after Mumbai and JNPA.

According to project details, of the 574 hectares identified for the project, nearly 50% falls under forest land, while the remaining land has been classified by the revenue department as belonging to various private owners.

The proposed Vadhavan Port will feature nine container terminals, each one kilometre long, along with four liquid cargo berths, four multipurpose berths, one Ro-Ro berth and one Coast Guard berth. Significantly, these facilities will be developed and operated under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, a first-of-its-kind approach for a port project in India.

Separately, Vadhavan Port Project Limited has floated bids for the development and maintenance of offshore land to be created through dredging, reclamation and construction of an offshore protection bund. This package, estimated at ₹19,238.57 crore, will be executed under the PPP Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM).

The tender for this work was floated on August 22, 2025, and remains active, with the deadline now revised to June 18.

The dredging, reclamation and offshore protection bund construction will be carried out in two phases. Tender documents state that a total of 1,207 hectares of land will be reclaimed. The first phase is estimated to cost ₹14,301.35 crore, while the second phase is pegged at ₹4,937.23 crore.

The project will follow a 45:55 execution model, under which 45% of the upfront payment will be made by Vadhavan Port Project Limited, while the remaining 55% will be borne by the PPP operator. The concession period has been fixed at 15 years, including five years for construction and ten years for operation and maintenance.

Officials said the Vadhavan Port site enjoys a unique natural advantage, enabling it to achieve a projected throughput capacity of 308 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) by 2040. In addition, the site naturally offers an 18-metre draft, eliminating the need for capital dredging in the navigational channel and harbour area, a major cost and operational advantage for the proposed port.