A drydock, by definition, refers to a narrow basin that can be flooded with water and simultaneously drained to allow loading of ships, boat and other watercraft, on a dry platform in order to undertake construction, maintenance and repair. The Naval Dockyard of the Indian Navy was established in 1735 and it already comprises three docks in line — the Upper Old Bombay Dock, the Middle Old Bombay Dock and the Lower Old Bombay Dock.

However, with considerable growth in the number of Naval ships over the years, the Navy felt constrained as the docking facilities are limited. Another shortcoming is that the Navy cannot undertake repair and maintenance work of very large ships like the aircraft carriers that weigh upwards of a minimum of 30,000 tonnes.

“It is in view of our future needs when we will induct Admiral Gorshkov and the indigenously-developed aircraft carriers that we have decided to built this unique drydock,” said Vice Admiral Vineet Bakhshi, Director-General, Naval Projects (DGNP), Mumbai. “The Indian Navy has pioneered multiple docking but we do not have docking facilities for aircraft carriers,” he said.

The drydock, which is to be built on the wet basin of the dockyard, will measure 280 metres in length, 45 metres in width and will be 14 metres deep with a frontage of 400 metres, according to Vice Admiral Bakhshi. “It is technologically challenging. In fact, making anything in South Bombay is challenging,” he said.

While the approximate project cost falls in the range of Rs 600-700 crores, Bakhshi revealed that the Navy has already shortlisted four contractors for bidding and hopes to break ground in August-September this year. Those shortlisted are Netherlands-based Royal Hesconics, ITDC Cementation, L&T, Hindustan Construction and Hyderabad-based Navyuk Constructions.

The Navy has also adopted a more advanced form of bidding than the earlier method. “We have adopted the FIDIC method of bidding where the responsibility of design as well as construction will be with the same company,” said Bakhshi.

Vice Admiral Bakhshi said it is a case where one will be building two retaining walls, a barrier and a gate on an existing waterbody. “The initial construction will be on the wet basin itself,” he said, adding that the project had been five years in the making considering the nitty-gritties, government approval and above all the technological challenge. “As far as I know, there exists only another dock of this kind, in Dubai,” he said.