 "Posco project may get stuck over captive port hurdle")
It is not a complete go ahead for the project as a clearance for the captive port project is still pending and unlikely to come any time soon, it is learnt. This is being seen as a stumbling block for the entire project.
“There are some environmental issues related to the port. It is delinked to the project, but we will not be able to give clearance at present,” a senior ministry official told Business Standard.
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Apart from this, the port is now facing trouble as local fishermen have sought the intervention of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), pointing out that NGT should not give clearance to the steel maker to build a port at Jatadhari river. MoEF had issued environment and Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) clearance for the captive port project in May 2007, which needs to be renewed now and the ministry is reluctant to give a go-ahead now, saying it is a ‘high-erosion zone’.
According to Pitamber Tarai, spokesperson of Kalinga Karndhar Kaibartya Solabhai Sabha (KKKSS), an organization of local fishermen, “thousands of fishermen are living in a critical condition due to low fish catch at Barunei and Mahanadi river mouths.
The situation will worsen if NGT would allow Posco to build its captive port at Jatadhari river mouth. The fishermen communities would be deprived of their livelihoods and will be forced to migrate to other states to work as bonded labourers”. Nearly 50,000 fishermen of Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts depend on the Barunei, Mahanadi and Jatadhari river mouths for fishing to eke out a living.
On the other hand, the fact that no foreign company has developed and operates 100 per cent port facility in India may also work against the South Korean major. In that case, they may have to tie up with a local player to develop the port.
Just before Geun-hye’s visit, Moily had cleared the Posco project which was stuck since 2006. Posco India had proposed a captive port facility at Jatadhari Muhan in Jagatsinghpur district within 10 km of the Paradip port as part of the project. The location of the port in such vicinity of the Paradip port had raised concerns on the impact of the major port’s operations.
The state government had asked Posco to incorporate the suggestions made by the Pune-based Central Water & Power Research Station (CWPRS) in the detailed project report (DPR) for the captive port proposed to be set up at Jatadhari Muhan in Jagatsinghpur district.
In 2006, the CWPRS came out with a technical study on the impact of the Posco port on the possible threat to the operations of the Paradeep port following the concerns of the authorities of Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) and the Union ministry of shipping, road transport and highways.
"We are not processing the proposal of Posco India to set up a captive port at Jatadhari. With the Union environment ministry delinking the port project from the steel plant, the fate of the captive port remains uncertain at this stage”, said a senior state official.
The Odisha government had given its in-principle approval for the establishment of a captive minor port on June 14, 2006.
It has also done numerical model analysis and littoral drift study for the port. Former Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh during his visit to Odisha in April 2011 had said the captive port site of Posco falls in the high-erosion zone.