Great Nicobar port to get LNG power plant, international airport

New Delhi: The proposed ₹41,000-crore Great Nicobar Island International Container Transshipment Terminal will be supported by a 450-megawatt liquefied natural gas (LNG)-based power plant and a greenfield international airport, officials said.

The new airport is expected to be set up by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), while NTPC will set up the LNG power plant, a senior official aware of the plan told ET.

"The idea is to ensure holistic development of Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This comprises development of an international container transhipment port, a greenfield airport, a power plant, and a township," the official said.

These issues figured in discussions at a recent inter-ministerial meeting. "The project will soon be taken for appraisal by the Public Investment Board (PIB)," a second official said.

This approval precedes a nod of the union cabinet for large infrastructure projects. The proposed power plant is crucial since the Great Nicobar island gets most of its electricity from diesel generators. LNG handling facilities will be developed at the transshipment terminal.

An international airport in Great Nicobar is also needed to improve access to the islands where the port will come up, said the official cited first. This project is proposed to be developed in four phases, with a capacity of 4 million twenty feet equivalent units (MTEU) being added at each stage. One TEU is a popularly adopted benchmark for measuring container handling capacity at ports and it roughly equals a standard size container.

The maximum capacity of the Great Nicobar project is expected to reach 16 MTEUs by 2059.

The port is pitched as a regional hub for Bangladesh, Myanmar, and India's eastern coast. It also aims to reduce dependency on neighbouring transhipment hubs, significantly lowering container logistics costs.