AVINASH TAVARES
KHAREWADDO: As Goans, not only from Vasco and nearby Chicalim, but also environmentalists from across the State descend on Chicalim ground on Friday for the Environmental Impact Assessment Public hearing on MPT’s ‘Modernization and Expansion of Port Infrastructure for Fishing, Coastal, Multipurpose Cargo Berth and Liquid/General Cargo’, activists are readying to expose the Centre’s Sagarmala Project.
“MPT is trying to show that the project is a fishing and passenger jetty and that liquid cargo is a small part of it. In reality, they want to expand the coal operations and move the fishermen out,” claims Abhijit Prabhudesai of Rainbow Warriors.
The Sagarmala report substantiates this claim. It states that the liquid cargo berth is not expected to grow significantly in the future due to low POL demand. “Hence Berth 8 can also be utilised for coal and other cargo in the future if coal demand picks up in MPT,” he adds, and claims, “MPT main intention is to expand its coal operations.”
But what does the fishing, cargo and liquid cargo berths have to do with coal? Prabhudesai explains that MPT wants to free up the berths 8, 10 and 11 for coal transportation. “For this, they have to shift the petroleum berths and the trawler jetty,” he says. The EIA report states that berth 8 is being handed to a private operator for cargo handling and berths 10 and 11 can be utilised to handle other cargo, without mentioning what kind of cargo will be handled at these berths in the future.
Prabhudesai also raises a query. “The Environment Assessment Report shows that that new berth has a lower capacity at 2MTPA than the existing berths which have a capacity of 2.2MTPA. So why does MPT want to invest in a new berth when they don’t have the demand?” The question is valid as a document in the EIA shows that by 2030, the traffic forecast for liquid cargo will be 1.55MTPA.
The Sagarmala Master Plan for Mormugao Port has an even grimmer prediction for liquid cargo volumes at MPT. While emphasizing the fact that there has been a drop in the volume of liquid cargo at MPT by 8 percent between 2011 and 2015, it states that the volumes are not expected to grow significantly as fuel consumption will remain steady in Goa. In fact, since 2015 the annual volume handles has dropped from 1.1 MTPA to 0.97 in 2018 after dropping to a low of 0.91 MTPA in 2016.
Savio Correa, a resident of Vasco who lives very close to the proposed project site has found several discrepancies in the EIA document which he plans to raise during the hearing. “There are many clarifications that I need to ask,” he says, without revealing the specifics. However, he did express his shock over the lack of thought given to the plan. “They plan to build a passenger jetty at the furthest point of the pier. Tourists who come through will have to smell the liquid cargo on onside and the fish on the other. They have not given any thought to public safety, traffic and many other issues. The EIA doesn’t even mention the survey numbers of the land where they will be constructing the project,” he said.
But how is it that the firm which prepared the EIA report for this project, and which has top experts and charges end up preparing a document, which even ordinary non-technical people can challenge with ease? Dinesh Dias, a resident of Tiswadi alleges that experts who prepare the EIA are biased. “The agencies who are hired to prepare the EIA prepare it to cover up all the ills of the project. That’s why they make so many mistakes and contradictions that are easy to spot,” he states.
Most environmental activists agree that the EIA, as well as the entire process of granting the environmental clearance, is flawed. “The environmental impact assessment study should be done on the entire Sagarmala master plan for MPT,” says Prabhudesai. The master plan has detailed development plan of upgrading all the existing berths as well as building new berths west of the breakwater, in Baina area as well as in Betul. “In this EIA, on one side they are calling the project a fishing jetty and in the same project they are dredging the area around the breakwater which is more than three kms away.”
Last year MPT had held a public hearing that went on for eight days. In the aftermath, MPT suffered several setbacks. On one hand, there has been a delay in granting the environmental clearances while on the other hand, their current operations have come under the scanner for causing severe pollution due to coal handling.
What will happen if this project gets delayed or fails to take off? “MPT is in a catch 22 situation. If they implement the whole Sagarmala project at once, people will oppose it because it will make Vasco unlivable. On the other, in the process of showing each of the berth development as a separate project, they have made many mistakes and misleading statements that will go against them in court,” says Correa.
