Capital Dredging of Navigational Channel at Mormugaon Port inaugurates by Mr Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister for Road Transport &Highways and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari inaugurated Capital Dredging of Navigational Channel at Cruise Berth at Mormugaon Port in Goa.Mormugao is going to be the first port in the country with a draft of 19.5 metres. On completion of dredging of the navigational channel, a 1,85,000 tonne vessel will be able to embark in the port. With this, the economy of the state will get a major thrust.

What is Dredging ?
- Dredging is an excavation activity usually carried out underwater, in shallow seas or freshwater areas with the purpose of gathering up bottom sediments and disposing of them at a different location.
- Uses
1. Capital: dredging carried out to create a new harbor, berth or waterway, or to deepen existing facilities in order to allow larger ships access. Because capital works usually involve hard material or high-volume works.
2. Preparatory: work and excavation for future bridges, piers or docks/wharves, often connected with foundation work.
3. Maintenance: dredging to deepen or maintain navigable waterways or channels which are threatened to become silted with the passage of time, due to sedimented sand and mud, possibly making them too shallow for navigation.
4. Land reclamation: dredging to mine sand, clay or rock from the seabed and using it to construct new land elsewhere. 
5. Beach nourishment: mining sand offshore and placing on a beach to replace sand eroded by storms or wave action. This is done to enhance the recreational and protective function of the beaches, which can be eroded by human activity or by storms. 
6. Harvesting materials: dredging sediment for elements like gold, diamonds or other valuable trace substances.
7. Seabed mining: a possible future use, recovering natural metal ore nodules from the sea's abyssal plains.
8. Construction materials: dredging sand and gravels from offshore licensed areas for use in construction industry, principally for use in concrete. 
9. Anti-eutrophication: Dredging is an expensive option for the remediation of eutrophied (or de-oxygenated) water bodies.
10. Contaminant remediation: to reclaim areas affected by chemical spills, storm water surges (with urban runoff), and other soil contaminations. Disposal becomes a proportionally large factor in these operations.
11. Removing trash and debris: often done in combination with maintenance dredging, this process removes non-natural matter from the bottoms of rivers and canals and harbors.
12. Flood prevention: this can help to increase channel depth and therefore increase a channel's capacity for carrying water.