Sticking to its decision of coming out with a new policy on port development along India?s fragile coastline, the environment ministry has sought to assuage shipping minister GK Vasan?s concerns related to its impact on planned expansion of port capacity.
?We have been advised by the environment ministry that all stakeholders, including the shipping ministry, will be consulted before the finalisation of any policy. The point is that we don?t have any time to lose in expanding the capacity of our ports when India?s economic growth and share in world trade are expected to rise,? a senior official in the shipping ministry told FE.
On November 10, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the economic growth should return to 9% in two years, from 6.7% in 2008-09. In the same month, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said India wants to double its share in global trade by 2020 from 1.64% in 2008.
In November, the environment ministry had decided to form a policy on port development projects. As the policy is likely only after October 2010, the ministry issued interim guidelines that require conducting hydro-dynamic study and comprehensive environmental impact assessment to know the effects of port projects on the 7,517-km shoreline and the neighbouring ecology. It has also initiated a micro-level study of changes in the long coastline of the country due to existing port projects and is identifying suitable sites to locate the new projects.
Following this, the ministry deferred environment clearances to a few projects to expand the 12 major ports, including Mormugao Port and Paradip Port. This prompted shipping minister G K Vasan to shoot off a letter to his environment counterpart Jairam Ramesh, opposing the move. He also demanded green signal to the ongoing projects under National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP), which is moving slower than expected.
Also, Maritime States Development Council, a group that deliberates on the interest of maritime states, in November passed a resolution asking Ramesh for allowing environment clearance to crucial port expansion projects. Now, the Environment Ministry has tried to address these concerns.
The NMDP initiative of the government envisages increasing the port capacity to nearly 1,000 million tonnes a year with projects allotted by the end of 2011-12, but legal and administrative delays hindered the programme. Now, the major ports are likely to have a capacity of 743 mt of cargo by March 31, 2012.