Mumbai, Oct 10: A report released last week by the UK-based World Wildlife Fund (WWF) claims that a mega port in Maharashtra will lead to underutilisation of existing infrastructure. The report is an outcome of a socio-economic study funded by the WWF to estimate the impact of the construction of a mega port by the state government at Vadhavan. Stating that the actual traffic will be much less than that projected by the India Infrastructure report, the World Wildlife Fund report has questioned the need for setting up a mega port when expansion planned at the Jawaharlal Nehru port under the Ninth Plan would meet all traffic needs.Although the report has made it clear that it was not recommending that port capacities not be increased, it warned against the overestimation of traffic especially in the light of the global recession and the fact that even in the past all the plan projections on demand for port facilities have fallen short of target.
While the India Infrastructure report has estimated trafficto be in the region of 652.61 million tonnes by 2005-2006, the Ninth Plan estimates are in the region of 613.18 million tonnes. The WWF report, however, claims that the actual figure should be much lower, especially in view of the collapse of the south-east Asian economies.
The report also claims that in the case of Vadhavan, most of the cargo would comprise traffic diverted from other ports. Dismissing the possibility of the hinterland surrounding Vadhavan generating traffic, the report has also questioned the need for Gujarat and Maharashtra to compete for traffic. The report has endorsed the suggestion that the two states set up a joint maritime board.
The WWF report says that while Vadhavan is perceived as the most suitable site in the region for the construction of a port, that is not true. Quoting from the techno-economic feasibility study submitted by Consulting Engineering Services (CES), the report has concluded that the original Alewadi site was better than Vadhavan, mainly because thelinkages were better. CES had reportedly ruled out Vadhavan as an alternative.
The report is the first to assess the impact of the construction of a port on the local population. According to their findings, the affected area would be far greater than the 469 acres indicated by both, the state government and P&O, the port's main promoter. The study claims that 46 villages will be affected, either directly by the port, or due to the road and rail linkages, which will affect an area of 10 kms around the port. The P&O-TRMS report on the other hand had claimed that only 25 villages would be affected. Approximately 1.64 lakh people are likely to be hit.
While the report has now been released in the UK, the state government is yet to respond to the findings.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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