Mumbai: Despite strong opposition from local residents, fisherfolk and environmental activists, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has cleared a proposal to construct an all-weather, multi-cargo, greenfield deepwater port at Murbe in Palghar district, a project that will require the removal of up to 4,859 mangroves.
The port will be developed by a special-purpose vehicle formed by JSW Infrastructure, a subsidiary of the JSW Group. The company received a letter of intent from the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) in October 2024 to develop, operate, manage and maintain the facility.
The proposal was cleared at an MCZMA meeting on January 19, the minutes of which were uploaded online on February 2, even as local residents and fishing communities warned that the project would damage the fragile coastal ecosystem and threaten traditional livelihoods.
According to the minutes, the port will have 16 berths with a handling capacity of about 134.07 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of solid and liquid cargo. It is intended to handle captive cargo for the JSW Group and serve nearby industrial clusters, including the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) area, the Tarapur Industrial Area, and the Vapi and Valsad Industrial Area.
Ports minister Nitesh Rane said, “This project was approved by the earlier government [under Eknath Shinde] and has been given a nod by the MCZMA now. It will be sent to the Centre for the final nod.”
However, Monalisa Tare, sarpanch of the Murbe village and a BJP leader, said, “We are opposed to the project. The fishermen will face losses. Their livelihood depends on fishing. We have asked our MLA, Rajendra Gavit [from Shiv Sena], and MP, Hemant Savara [from BJP], to stop the project.”
A spokesperson for JSW Infrastructure said the company followed strict environmental norms: “The JSW Group has always been at the forefront of preservation of environment and biodiversity. Development of port infrastructure involves carefully regulated activities such as dredging and channelisation, which may require limited removal of existing vegetation, all undertaken within a stringent regulatory and environmental framework. Identification of the affected areas and their mitigation measures, including afforestation, etc, is a part of the due process and is done after following all the recommendations and extant regulations.”
The MCZMA minutes note that compensatory mangrove plantation will be undertaken in coordination with the state government’s mangrove cell. The JSW spokesperson added that the development of the Murbe port “will be accompanied by robust, science-based ecological restoration to ensure long-term environmental balance”.
While critics have questioned the need to build a port just 40 km away from the massive, government-backed Vadhavan Port project, the minutes of the MCZMA meeting stated that the Murbe port is of strategic importance for strengthening India’s maritime infrastructure, particularly on the west coast.
Despite having a 720-km coastline, Maharashtra has only two major ports—the Mumbai Port Authority and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority—and no major full-fledged port for more than 230 km north of Mumbai, the minutes said. This lack of infrastructure severely limits the potential of export-import trade for the region’s thriving industrial hubs, it noted.
The Murbe port, according to the authority, will fill this gap, enhancing regional logistics efficiency, reducing transportation costs, generating GST revenue for the state, and supporting the industrial and economic development of surrounding areas.