Adani Ports to invest ₹10,000 crore to build new gateway into Maharashtra

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd today completed the acquisition of 100% stake of Dighi Port Limited (DPL) for Rs705 crore.

Dighi port is located on the banks of the Rajpuri Creek, in the Raigad District of Maharashtra on the West Coast of India. The port is located at a distance of 42 nautical miles (NM) from Mumbai Port and 170kms south of Mumbai by road.

"APSEZ plans to invest over ₹10,000 crore to develop the port into a multi-cargo port with world-class infrastructure as well as investing in the development of rail & road evacuation infrastructure for seamless and efficient cargo movement," the companysaid in a regulatory filing.

Dighi Port Limited, the 12th port to join APSEZ’s string of economic gateways across the eastern and western coast of India would establish the company’s footprint in Maharashtra, the largest contributor to India’s GDP. This would enable APSEZ to service customers in Maharashtra which includes the highly industrial areas and development in the Mumbai & Pune regions.

The company will strengthen and repair existing infrastructure and invest in development of facilities for dry, container, and liquid cargo.

DPL will evolve as an alternative gateway to JNPT and will invite and support the development of port-based industries on port land. The development of DPL will lead to further investments across various industries such as consumer appliances, metals, energy, petrochemicals, and chemicals business in Maharashtra and provide a tremendous fillip to the industrial development and growth in Maharashtra. These investments will contribute to employment generation and socio-economic development of the port's hinterland.

As per the terms & requirements of the Resolution Plan, the transfer of concession rights has also been approved by the Maharashtra Maritime Board (‘MMB’) and APSEZ has settled the dues of financial creditors, MMB, and other admitted costs and claims.

Karan Adani, CEO and Whole Time Director of APSEZ said, “The successful acquisition of DPL adds another milestone in the Adani Port’s target of creating a string of ports to increase service coverage to the entire economic hinterland of India. With our growth focus, experience, and expertise in turning around acquisitions and we are confident of making DPL value accretive for all our stakeholders. Our investment & capacity augmentation plan will be aligned with policies of the Government of Maharashtra for development of ports, associated infrastructure, industrial and socio-economic development in the state”.

The company had intimated the commencement of this development to stock exchanges on 06 March last year.