Great Nicobar: India’s Gateway to Indo-Pacific, Not Just Another Island Project Says Former Navy Chief

As political opposition and environmental concerns continue to dog the proposed Great Nicobar Island (GNI) development, former Navy Chief and Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Admiral D.K. Joshi, has argued that the project should be assessed not as an isolated infrastructure venture but as a long-term strategic investment designed to reshape India’s position in the Indo-Pacific.

In an interaction for StratNewsGlobal with BharatShakti Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale, Adm Joshi described Great Nicobar as a critical element in a larger effort to convert the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago into “India’s gateway to the Indo-Pacific” by leveraging its unique location astride some of the world’s busiest sea lanes.

“The islands are not merely a springboard, they are a gateway connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans,” Joshi said, underscoring the geostrategic significance of the 750-km-long island chain.

At the heart of the government’s ambitious plan is the proposed International Container Transshipment Port at Galathea Bay, expected to handle around six million TEUs in its initial phase and eventually expand to nearly 21 million TEUs. Combined with a greenfield international airport, logistics facilities and dual-use infrastructure, the nearly Rs 1 lakh crore project is intended to transform Great Nicobar into a major commercial and strategic hub close to one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, such as the Strait of Malacca.

For India, the project’s significance extends well beyond port development.

Great Nicobar lies barely 90 nautical miles from the Strait of Malacca, through which nearly a quarter of global maritime trade and a substantial proportion of China’s imported energy supplies transit. The location offers India an opportunity to strengthen maritime domain awareness, enhance naval reach and position itself closer to evolving trade corridors in Southeast Asia.

Adm Joshi drew attention to Thailand’s proposed land bridge project linking the Andaman Sea port of Ranong with Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand through a 45-km multimodal corridor.

“There are going to be two ports. One on the Andaman Sea side at Ranong and the other at Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand side. The distance between them is only 45 kilometres,” he noted.

The proposed corridor is expected to include rail links, highways and digital connectivity infrastructure, offering an alternative to the congested Strait of Malacca.

Joshi argued that such developments could significantly alter shipping patterns in the coming years.

“If you extend the 10th parallel eastwards, within 300 kilometres you enter the South China Sea. Extend it westwards, and it passes right between the Andaman and Nicobar groups of islands,” he said.

According to him, vessels moving between Northeast Asia and the Indian Ocean could increasingly prefer routes passing through the 10-Degree Channel instead of the traditional southern approaches to Malacca.

“The saving in distance would be of the order of 1,000 kilometres and the saving in time would be about three days,” he observed.

Joshi suggested that shipping traffic from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Vietnam and Thailand could eventually shift towards this alignment.

“Today, nearly one lakh ships transit through Malacca every year. There is a distinct possibility that a substantial part of this traffic may start following the 10th parallel route,” he said.

Such a shift, analysts say, would considerably enhance the strategic value of India’s island territories, allowing New Delhi to exercise greater oversight over commercial shipping flows traversing the eastern Indian Ocean.

The former Navy Chief also highlighted a broader infrastructure push underway across the Andaman and Nicobar chain. Plans envisage four full-length runways spaced roughly 250 km apart, upgraded helicopter services, improved inter-island connectivity, expanded tourism facilities and strengthened digital networks following the commissioning of the submarine optical fibre link from Chennai.

Taken together, the initiatives reflect an attempt to convert geography into strategic influence at a time when competition for control over maritime trade routes is intensifying across the Indo-Pacific.

For Joshi, the debate surrounding Great Nicobar misses the larger picture.

“We are geographically dominating this entire area,” he said, arguing that the island chain’s location offers India an enduring advantage in an era where control over connectivity corridors and maritime chokepoints is becoming as important as traditional military power, a subtle reference to the Strait of Hormuz.

Viewed through that prism, Great Nicobar is emerging not simply as an infrastructure project but as a long-term bet on India’s ambition to become a consequential maritime power in the Indo-Pacific, while providing New Delhi a strategic counterweight to China’s growing presence across the Indian Ocean region.

Team BharatShakti