VASCO: Breaking his silence on the marina project which is at the centre of a controversy, Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) acting Chairman Cyril George said that if the proposed marina project had any environmental issues involved and was against the interests of the State then MPT would have never gone ahead with it. He said the project is aimed at promoting tourism in Goa, but people without sufficient information on the project are opposing it.
Speaking Exclusively to Herald, George said, “MPT decided to construct two marinas in River Zuari in 2010. Two firms – for the northern water front, Kargwal Construction Pvt Ltd, Mumbai and for the southern waterfront, Yatch Heven (Goa) Private Limited – were selected through a competitive bidding process. This was done because MPT believes there is no environmental effect from the project and if there was any such thing MPT would have not gone ahead with the marina project.
Referring to the stoppage of mining, George said Goa is facing financial problems due to this and the marinas would help boost tourism. “A marina is just a floating platform to accommodate high-end boats where very rich people from India and abroad will come and will park their boats. In the absence of marinas there would be more environmental problems as boats will throw their wastes, oil etc in the waters. A marina ensures that there will be a system of collecting wastes and be scientifically managed,” he said.
Commenting on the possible threat to the environment that was raised by Goa State Biodiversity Board officials, he said, “Projects like marinas protect the environment and help in reducing pollution in the water; people are opposing without understanding these basic issues.”
Giving examples of similar projects in other states he said, “In Cochin, Kerala, we implemented a marina project which is operational without posing any threat to the environment. People should understand that besides being an environment friendly project, a marina would also generate employment opportunities for local and even for next generation. The other monetary benefits would be that the locality where the marina is proposed will witness lot of shore activity while the land prices of the local people will shoot up extensively,” he said.
Referring to tourism, George said, “In Goa, tourism is coming down, this one activity will promote tourism and for these reasons we promoted this project,” he said.
Disagreeing with locals that a marina would be a disaster in terms of pollution at sea and threat to marine life, he said, “If that is the case then the people should also understand that there are so many shipyards not following environment laws, besides there are barges along the Zuari river bay and each of these barges has created health hazards and environmental hazards besides pollution. These aspects are ignored and people are opposing a project which has been conceptualized after conducting many scientific studies,” he said.
Commenting on the claims that livelihood of people will be affected, the MPT Chairman said, “As per our report only seven families are directly affected by the project. Even if there are livelihood issues then we will tell the operators to take care of these people otherwise MPT will not support the project as MPT is for the State, for the environment and for the local people. This would add up to the tourism potential and Goa is an ideal state for such project.”
