India’s plans run into environmental issues
It is not just marine wildlife that is being threatened by the vast number of Indian port projects. Photo:Greenpeace / Sumer Verma
There are a number of port proposals being turned over in Orissa at the moment, mostly related to mining shipments, an ongoing issue for India – but some are running into delays linked with environmental concerns.
Firstly, the Orissa government has submitted a revised proposal for a port at Barunei Muhan in Kendrapara district to the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF). The ministry had previously asked the state government to redraw the limits of the proposed port, as the site came within the Gahirmatha Marine Wildlife Sanctuary.
Secondly, a lack of sufficient depth to the impact assessment has been cited as the reason for holding back the agreement to a captive port at Jatadhari, near Paradip, part of South Korean giant Posco’s plan to build a US$12-billion steel plant at nearby Jagathsinghpur.
Sanjiv Gopal, Greenpeace India's Oceans & Climate campaign manager, told GreenPort magazine that there are a number of problems associated with the port developments. “Firstly, along Orissa’s short coastline of 480km, there are a total of over 10 ports proposed, in addition to the two existing and operational ports at Paradip and Gopalpur, and the Dhamra port, which is currently under construction. This means roughly one port development every 40km.”
The appraisal committee of the Coastal Regulation Zone panel has asked Posco to give additional information on the captive port, but the project is may also be running into trouble with it’s forest clearance programme and this may also mean delays in approval by the environment ministry. Further, the panel is now taking on the need to make a ‘cumulative assessment of projects. While Mr Gopal say that this is a positive step, as the developments present problems on a number of fronts - including to marine wildlife and the fishing industry - shoreline erosion is a “major problem”.
This, he says, shows up in the regions of Chennai, Ennore, Visakhapatnam and Paradip ports and Pudducherry Harbour, which has already suffered an extreme morphology due to the construction of breakwaters. But it isn’t limited to this region, he says.
“At present, about 23% of shoreline along the Indian mainland is affected by erosion, and in Orissa, the coast north of Gopalpur port has already been badly affected – much of this erosion is actually down to artificial structures.”
While he also says that the government is now mapping India’s coasts with an eye to marking out problematic erosion areas, “as they are not looking at what is causing the difficulties, there is a good chance that in 15 years you will find that places that were only classed as moderate risk are now classed as ‘severe’".
Moreover, Mr Gopal explains, “The issue of the carrying capacity of the coastline with reference to developmental projects is completely missing. The proliferation of megaports near vulnerable areas has been a matter of controversy for some time now, from Dhamra on the eastern coast, to Mundra and Tadri on the west.” There are currently over 300 ports proposed along the coast of mainland India, of which over 200 are in the notification stage. This would translate to roughly a port every 20-25 km, he adds.
“The premise for port expansion on this scale also needs to be questioned given that many existing major ports are currently under-utilised and operating below capacity” Mr Gopal concludes.
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