Standing as a natural sentinel at the western gateway of the Strait of Malacca, Great Nicobar Island anchors India's proposed mega-project, comprising a greenfield international airport, a township and its centrepiece, an International Container Transshipment Terminal at Galathea Bay.
The project seeks to strengthen the country’s position in global maritime trade by leveraging the island's proximity to the East–West shipping route and reducing dependence on foreign transshipment ports.
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Rising just 40 nautical miles from the world's busiest maritime corridor, the deep-water haven at Galathea Bay boasts natural draft depths, capable of accommodating the globe's largest ultra-large container ships. Driven by a phased 16,610-hectare master plan through 2047, the mega-development couples a 14.2 million TEU container terminal with a high-capacity international airport designed to welcome 10 million annual travellers.
In June this year, the Central government announced that heavy machinery will likely roll onto the shores of Great Nicobar Island to begin ground construction of the Rs 91,000-crore mega-infrastructure project by 2028.
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Yet, beneath the high-stakes blueprint lies a formidable constraint: Great Nicobar falls within Seismic Zone V, the country's highest seismic risk category.
As the 2028 construction deadline approaches, the central challenge facing India is not whether it should pursue this strategic project, but how to re-engineer rigid, sea-level-dependent maritime infrastructure for the island's unpredictable geology.
