With the UT government initiating talks with Ennore Port Limited for developing a minor port, the Union Territory’s frozen plan for the facility has been revived.
The new proposal comes after the port project faced many a hurdle in the last few years.
After the previous project was stalled, Pondicherry Ports Limited (PPL) had sought a settlement of `1,511 crore from the government for not adhering to the terms of a concession agreement (CA) signed on January 21, 2006.
PPL sought the settlement from the government for not adhering to the terms of the CA. According to sources, government has constituted a group to negotiate the settlement amount and come out of the deal, but nothing has materialised, so far.
With the earlier deal yet to be settled, it has raised doubts as to how the administration could enter into negotiations for a new deal.
The government signed a CA with PPL, a joint venture of Subhash Projects and Marketing Limited (SPML) and Om Metal Limited (OML), for developing a deep sea port on BOT basis at an outlay of `1,867 crore (later revised to `2,785 crore in 2008). However, even six years after the agreement, the project has failed to take off in face of opposition, primarily on environmental grounds.
Ever since the small New Port was constructed in 1989, Puducherry and neighbouring coastal areas of Tamil Nadu have been experiencing soil erosion, with sandy beaches vanishing.
Though dumping of boulders on the coast to form a sea wall has given some respite, the danger of losing the town lurks.
In this scenario, a deep sea port is opposed by environmental and civil society activists. So far, no environmental impact assessment studies have been done to allay their fears.
On the other hand, PPL has not been able to start the project and in April last they sent a notice to the Puducherry government for the termination of the CA due to “Government of Puducherry (GoP) events of default.”
Though GoP had handed over the port for development on February 1, 2007, the transfer remained only on paper.
The PPL used to collect rent from some godowns, but that right too was taken away by the GoP after four months.
While the activists maintained that port development could only be initiated after an EIA had stalled the take over, the developers in their notice stated that GoP had completely stalled the process of obtaining environmental clearance, by disallowing the PPL to carry out any studies.
Probir Banerjee of Pondicherry Citizen’s action network said that when the GoP had signed a CA with PPL, till it was settled, how could there be another proposal.
He asked about the credibility of Ennore Port, with reports of destruction due to erosion caused by them and their inability to address it, feasibility study and EIA for the new project.
Indian Maritime University (earlier NIPM) had stated that a port was not financially viable, so the company would cut costs, which means no dredging, leading to exposure of the coast to further erosion, says Banerjee.