Nayachar chem hub may fall prey to new coastal rules

The West Bengal government?s plan to include the riverine Nayachar island off Haldia in the proposed chemical hub is likely to run into trouble once the Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) regime replaces the current coastal regulation zone (CRZ) one.

Experts said the 47sq km island, formed from the Hooghly river?s silt, could come under the CMZ-I as an ecologically sensitive area (ESA).

KP Nyati, principal advisor to the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, said, ?If it is a sand dune, then it would fall under the CMZ-I and has to be preserved. Sand beaches and sand dunes are included in the indicative list of ecologically sensitive areas (ESA).?

When it was pointed out to Nyati that a Geological Survey of India team had said the island is composed of neo-interdistributory mangrove marsh and fluvio tidal flats, Nyati said, ?In that case it would come under CMZ-I.?

The CMZ regime is expected to be notified by September, following which the government will take up the time-consuming task of drawing the setback line. This could take up to two years.

Following violent opposition last year from people at Nandigram, the site selected initially for a chemical hub, the Left Front government had drawn up fresh plans for the area around Haldia, the industrial port town. Falling short of the minimum area required for a chemical hub, it had then proposed to include Nayachar.

The government has already handed over the Nayachar land to APC Ray Chemicals Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between New Kolkata International Development Pvt Ltd (NKID) and West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC). The company is going ahead with soil testing and a feasibility survey.

According to experts, islands come under CMZ-IV, but newly formed ones that are not hard ground fall under CMZ-I. ?The state government can decide on setting up the chemical hub but they have to take into consideration the basic objectives of CMZ notification then,? Nyati said.

The CRZ regime would remain in place until the setback line is demarcated. ?It is likely that it would come into force by 2011, not only due to the time taken to draw the setback line, but because the integrated coastal zone management plan (ICZMP) prepared by various states have to be approved by ministry of environment & forests and notified,? Nyati said.