MoD signs contract with GSL for construction of two Pollution Control Vessels for Indian Coast Guard
The acquisition will significantly augment the capability of the Indian Coast Guard to respond to Oil spill disasters at sea and also enhance Pollution Response (PR) efficiency
Ministry of Defence signed a contract with Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) for the construction of two Pollution Control Vessels (PCVs) for the Indian Coast Guard at a cost of about Rs 583 crore, on June 22, 2021. These Special Role ships will be indigenously designed, developed, and built by GSL. The acquisition is under ‘Buy Indian – Indigenously Designed Developed & Manufactured (Buy Indian-IDDM)’, the highest priority category for defense capital procurements.
The acquisition will significantly augment the capability of the Indian Coast Guard to respond to Oil spill disasters at sea and also enhance Pollution Response (PR) efficiency. These two vessels are scheduled for delivery by November 2024 and May 2025 respectively.
At present, the Indian Coast Guard has three PCVs in its fleet at Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, and Porbander to carry out dedicated Pollution Surveillance, Oil spill monitoring/Response operations in Indian EEZ and around islands. The new PCVs planned are for pollution response requirements in Eastern and the ecologically sensitive Andaman & Nicobar Regions. The vessels, with the capability of operating helicopters on board, will have many advanced features with modern PR equipment of niche technology for containing, recovering, and dispersing the marine oil spill.
While meeting the objectives of AatmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the contract would further boost the indigenous shipbuilding capability and increase employment opportunities in the shipbuilding sector that involves around 200 MSME vendors.
