In April of this year, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat visited Naval Base in Karwar to be briefed about the ongoing works under Project Seabird. The base is expected to become the largest naval base in the eastern hemisphere after the completion of expansion Phase II.
On Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka to review the expansion and once again put the spotlight on the Navy's esteemed project. The Defence Minister said he was confident that after the completion of the project, the Karwar Naval Base would become Asia's largest and most efficient naval base and that he would also raise the budget for it.
"Visited Karwar Naval Base today to review the progress of ongoing infrastructure development under Project Seabird. I am confident that after the completion of this project, the Karwar Naval Base would become Asia's largest and most efficient Naval base," he posted on his official Twitter handle.
During the aerial survey of the project area and sites, Rajnath Singh was accompanied by the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh. The statement from Defence Ministry also said, "He also visited newly constructed married sailors' accommodation, which provides environment-friendly housing with advanced features for water and energy efficiency, and handling of household waste."
The grand scale of the Karwar Naval Base
INS Kadamba is an Indian Navy base located near Karwar in Karnataka and is currently the third-largest Indian naval base. Clearly one of the largest naval infrastructure projects for India, Project Seabird involves the creation of a naval base at Karwar on the west coast of India.
On August 1, 2002, the Government of India had accorded its approval in 1995 for the execution of the first phase of the Project Seabird at a revised completion cost of Rs 1294.41 crore. Construction of the first phase commenced in 1999 and was completed in 2005. This included accommodation facilities, ship lift facility, harbour and anchorage, jetty berthing facilities, among a few others. Development of Phase II commenced in 2011.
The facilities and services at the base
Being developed on 4480ha area of land, only 400ha of Project Seabird is being used for construction. The expanded naval complex will be able to support several major warships and submarines and yard crafts, new technologically advanced security and communications system, a Naval Air Station, among others. Located on a moderately hilly terrain along the coast, the project continues to involve several technical and environmental challenges as well.
India bets big and how
The Indian Navy has appointed American multinational engineering firm AECOM as the project management consultant for Project Seabird – Phase IIA. The $3 billion programme, upon completion, will provide the Indian Navy, not just with one of the largest naval bases on the west coast, but also the largest naval base east of the Suez Canal. The construction of a naval air station has been one of the major highlights of the second phase all along. The naval air station is expected to be functional in 2025.
