PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said that the government’s opposition is to the expansion of coal handling capacity and not to the proposed terminal capacity enhancement at the berth at Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) operated by South West Port Limited (SWPL).
“Coal expansion will not be allowed. We object to it and I stand by my decision,” Parrikar said. Coal contributes nearly 80 percent of the total cargo handled at berth number 5A and 6A.
He said that he had “no problem” if SWPL use the berth for cargo other than coal. “If the berth is used for other cargo handling, we have no objection. For example, if they want to use the berth for steel import or wood chips import than I have no objection,” the Chief Minister told reporters
“The plan is of berth expansion. It is cargo handling expansion plan. We are opposing coal expansion. If they (SWPL) use the berth for some other reason or handling other cargo I have no problem,” Parrikar told media persons.
His statement comes days after the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) recommended grant of environmental and CRZ clearance for the proposed terminal capacity enhancement at berth numbers 5-A and 6-A for handling coal and coal products, iron ore and limestone, including unitised and steel products by SWPL, a company owned by infrastructure giant JSW.
He said that the issue is about increasing coal handling facility and not about the expansion of the berth.
As reported by Herald, SWPL handled 47.512 million tonnes of ore from 2012-13 till November 2017, as against the permissible limit of 31.625 million tonnes during the period. SWPL was involved in handling 15.887 million tonnes of excess coal in the past six years ending November 2017.
From April 2017 to November 2017, SWPL handled 5.05 million tonnes of ore as against the permitted capacity of 4.125 million tonnes.
