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Two ports proposed near the mouth of the Subarnarekha river on the Odisha coast have hit a road block after the state's forest department objected to them. The two sites at Talsara and Kirtania villages in Balasore district are within 10 km of each other and pose a threat to the endangered Olive Ridley turtles. The port at Kirtania has been awarded to Chennai-based Creative Port Development Limited (CPDL) to build and operate while the Bichitrapur port at Talsara is to be a captive port of Jindal Steel Works (JSW).
The Odisha forest and environment department has refused to grant clearance to the Kirtania project after the outgoing principal chief conservator of forest, S S Srivastava, went on the record saying the proposed ports would endanger the habitat of the Olive Ridley turtles. He brought this to the notice of the Odisha state environment department, through a letter dated October 15.
“Sporadic nesting of Olive Ridley sea turtles has been observed towards the north of the Subarnarekha mouth at beaches near Talsara and Kirtania. Carcasses of turtles have been noticed in beaches towards north and south of the Subarnarekha's mouth, including the proposed port area. This indicates there are congregations and mating of Olive Ridley turtles in the sea adjoining the Subarnarekha river mouth. The construction of the port and its channel and the movement of ships may disturb their congregation, mating and movement,” said Srivastava in his letter to the principal secretary of environment and forests.
Big-ticket projects
CPDL had signed an memorandum of understanding with the Odisha Government on December 18, 2006 for setting up the port at Kirtania with an initial capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), which is to be increased to 40 MTPA in 10 years. The port developer entered a concession agreement with the state government on January 11, 2008 to build, own, operate, share and transfer (BOOST) the port to the state. As per the provisions of concession agreement, a special purpose vehicle, Subarnarekha Port Private Limited (SPPL), was incorporated on October 10, 2008. The port developer would share revenue with the state government at the rate of five per cent from first to fifth year, eight per cent from sixth to 10th year, 10 per cent from 11th to 15th year and 12 per cent for the remaining period of the concession.
JSW plans a Rs 2,238 crore captive deep sea port in Bichitrapur and it will be used to transport cargo up to 10 MTPA in the first phase. The company had planned to invest Rs 550 crore in the first phase, which was scheduled for commissioning by 2013. The port's cargo handling was projected to reach 20 MTPA in the second phase, set to be operational by 2013 and 45 MTPA by 2020. JSW Infrastructure was to invest Rs 750 crore and Rs 938 crore in the second phase and third phase respectively. The port is to handle cargo such as coking coal, thermal coal, dolomite, limestone, iron ore, finished steel products, bauxite, gypsum and clinker.
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