Kochi local administration said that one week after four months of protests at the construction site, that work on a $900 million port being built by India’s Adani Group in the state of Kerala will be accelerated to meet a September 2023 deadline.
Following a meeting between Adani Ports Chief Executive Rajesh Jha and local authorities, the state government said that additional barges would be pushed into action, the amount of granite being consumed for the project would be doubled, and additional machinery would be brought in.
Protesters from a mostly-Christian nearby village said the construction of the port would cause soil erosion that would undermine their livelihoods, halting work on the site in the coastal town of Vizhingam in the southern Indian state.
Clashes between police and protesters in November injured more than 100 people, including 64 police officers.
