With the Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL) submitting the EIA report to the State Pollution Control Board on Monday, the mandatory public hearings required for the environmental clearance of the multi-crore Vizhinjam seaport project are expected to be held next month.
It is the PCB that has to hold the public hearings, after which the documents will be submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for clearance. The entire project, which involves the construction of an international container transshipment terminal at Vizhinjam, cruise terminal and Defence facilities, hinges on the environmental clearance.
‘’We will submit 20 copies of the integrated EIA report to the PCB on Tuesday. They will put it on the public domain after which the public hearing will held,’’ VISL CEO A S Suresh Babu said. L&T Ramboll had prepared the EIA report after the mandatory three-season - pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon - studies.
On fresh complaints lodged by a section with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Ombudsman, Suresh Babu said that VISL has followed the 2006 Government of India notification on EIA. The studies were conducted after the Terms of Reference (ToR) and the Additional ToR were cleared by the MoEF.
The State Government had commissioned numerous studies on various aspects of the project, including the master plan. Aecom had conducted studies for the optimal and integrated master plan, while Deloitte performed the economic rating and returns studies. After the Navy and the Coast Guard sought space for their vessels at the proposed port, that requirement too has been worked in into the master plan. The Navy had sought 500 metres of berth space and the Coast Guard, 150 metres.
