CASE STUDY: CREATING A WORLD- CLASS PORT

An international consortium is developing a major port in India, but the project has hit
troubled waters.
Background

A bottleneck on the road to

growth
India stands
economic

poised

growth.

for

unprecedented

However,

inadequate

port and transport infrastructure pose a

critical bottleneck to its trade potential and
growth

plans.

Roads

are

frequently

gridlocked and ports are close to capacity.

Infrastructure is an important priority for
the country. Major projects include the
$50bn Delhi- Mumbai industrial corridor,
high- speed rail links between main cities,
improved cargo handling at ports and new
airport facilities.
India is trying to attract more private
investment
expertise

and
from

project
abroad

management
to

help

with

infrastructure development.

Blake Ports Management

Press Release
The Blake Martins consortium has won a bid for the $1 billion Raghavan Port
in Gujarat, western India. The private consortium is led by Blake Ports
Management, based in Australia, and the civil- engineering firm Martins, from
Denmark.
The new deep-water cargo- handling port will be built in three phases over a
48-month period as traffic grows. Much of the 600 acres for the development
will be on land reclaimed from the sea.
The Gujarati Ports Authority and the Gujarati State Government each have a
15 per cent share, with the consortium holding the remaining 70 per cent
stake in the venture. The consortium will have tenure of the port for 30 years.

Report findings

Delays to the first phase of Raghvan Port

In less than a year, the

Summary of findings

first phase of the project

Change of scope

is

months

The developer had to revise the scope substantially

behind schedule and 20

without extending the opening date of the port. This

per

came about because a new study projected a larger

already
cent

six
over

budget.

Read this report about

increase in port traffic than originally planned for.

the problems. Which ones

Road conditions

are

project

Congestion and crumbling roads are causing difficulty in

managers control? How

accessing the site. The State Investment Board is

could

project

planning the construction of a four- lane road and

the

dedicated rail link connecting the port to the national rail

under

the

the

manager

solve

problems?

grid if it can get the help of a public- private partnership.

Procurement
The delivery of structural steel had to be delayed. Indeed,
on- time delivery of the steel would have caused a
storage problem. The knock-on effect has been an
increase in the cost of steel.
Water and power supplies
The site does not have a fresh water supply and there are
frequent power cuts.
Weather conditions
Building work was planned on 18 hours a day. However,
summer monsoons caused havoc with the schedule,

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sometimes causing delays for several days at a time.

Feedback from the team
There are also issues with the relationships between the
developer and the multinational, multi- disciplinary team.
The project manager has held a number of confidential
meetings with the team.