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 poised for unprecedented economic
growth. 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 and

project management expertise from abroad 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 first Summary of findings
phase of the project is already Change of scope
six months behind schedule and The developer had to revise the scope substantially without extending
20 per cent over budget. Read the opening date of the port. This came about because a new study
this report about the problems. projected a larger increase in port traffic than originally planned for.
Which ones are under the Road conditions
project manager’s control? How Congestion and crumbling roads are causing difficulty in accessing the
could the project manager solve site. The State Investment Board is planning the construction of a four-
the problems? lane road and dedicated rail link connecting the port to the national rail
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, sometimes causing delays for
several days at a time.
Sydney Delhi Copenhagen Feedback from the team
16:00h 11:30h 08:00h There are also issues with the relationships between the developer and
18:00h 13:30h 10:00h the multinational, multi- disciplinary team. The project manager has held
20:00h 15:30h 12:00h a number of confidential meetings with the team.