Rewas is one of 48 “Minor” ports of Maharashtra located near Karanja creek at mouth of the Patalganga River about 10 km southward of JNPT and 16 km south-east of Mumbai Port. It is controlled by state government through an agency known as “Maharashtra Maritime Board”.
Dr. Meka Vijay Paparao discovered the location in 1996. In 1997 the state government signed an MOU with Dr. Rao's company Amma Lines for development of Rewas and Avare for a multi-cargo deep draft all-weathter port. In 2002, the cabinet signed a concession agreement for 50 years with Amma Lines to develop this port on Build, Operate, Own, Share and Transfer (BOOST) basis for handling container traffic. It formed an SPV known as Rewas Ports Ltd. for the purpose. With a starting investment of US$ 400 million and ultimate of about 1 billion US$1.3 Billion (Rs 6600 Crore), it is ultimately planned to have over 50 berths with a draft as deep as 13 to 18 m.
In 2006, Amma Lines sold a majority stake to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Group and Anand Jain's Jai Corp. The state government of Maharashtra also has a minor stake in the port. To start with, the Port will have a 13 m dredged draft, ten berths with a total quay length of 3500 m.
The project received Environmental Clearance from the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India in May 2007 and also completed Financial Closure for the USD $1.3 Billion dollar project. The port is due to be commissioned in 2011 and due for completion in 2012 with a draft of 18m. The cargo to be handled here will be containers, iron ore, coal and other solid and liquid bulk cargo. There is also a proposal to develop a large dry dock and shipyard and ship repair facility. It is located in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India and is 11 nautical miles (20 km) from Mumbai.
As a result of the recent objections being raised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on the current proposed location of the Navi Mumbai International airport near Kopra Panvel area, apparently because the construction of the airport would involve reclamation of low-lying areas in an ecologically fragile zone as well as destruction of several hectares of mangroves. As a result of these new developments other locations are now being actively being considered.
The proposed airport site is centered around the region of Rewas and Mandwa near Alibaug, where the original proposal of second international airport existed on all regional development plans, and the location was commented to be the most fit and correct barring the excessive finiancial cost involved in building a sea-link/creek bridge over the Karanja Creek connecting Uran - JNPT area to the proposed airport at Rewas Mandwa. It is only at a distance of 20 nautical miles (37 km) by sea makes it an viable location. If the current location at Kopra Panvel does not go thru, the one at Rewas - Mandwa location will be considered for this Airport project.