Ecofriendly Dhamra

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THE DHAMRA PORT PROJECT

a presentation by

S. K. MOHAPATRA, CEO


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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

PART I PORT OF DHAMRA

PART II CONCERNS AND FACTSPART III GREENPEACE AND THE PROJECT


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Port of Dhamra

Dhamra is one of the most ancient ports of

India. Till about independence and eventhereafter it was used for cargo

transportation between North Orissa and

Kolkata.

An Old Port

Kanika (Dhamra) PortKanika ( Dhamra Chandbali) Port (15th -18th AD) was a prosperous oceanic trading centre andPoint Palmiras in the southern side of Dhamra River mouth was one of the most important navigation

land marks of that time. A multitude of commercial vessels of the King of Kanika were plying on theIndian Ocean doing prolific trade.

- Walter Hamilton - 1828 AD, Imperial Gazette


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Port of Dhamra

Officially, the Dhamra port

limits were notified as far back as

1931. The project falls within the

area notified as port way back in

1931

The port continued to be a

thriving port till after

independence when it fell to

disuse except as a fishing port.

Area notified as port in 1931


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Port of Dhamra

Government of Orissa decided

to develop it into a modern deep

port following a pre-feasibility

study by RITES.

The Government chose the

PPP mode on BOOST basis

GoO decides to develop it as a modern port


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Port of Dhamra

The mineral hinterland of

Orissa, Jharkhand and WestBengal

Nature of cargo requires large

size vesselsConsequently deeper draft

Existing ports inadequate

PORT IMPORTANT TO REGIONS ECONOMY

Haldia/kolkataDhamraParadip


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Port of Dhamra

DPCL was formed as a

special purpose vehicle to

develop the port under a

concession agreement from GoI

Originally a JV of L&T and

two foreign companies, DPCL is

now a 50:50 JV of L&T and

TATA Steel

DPCL FORMED


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Port of Dhamra

THE PORT MASTER PLAN

Bulk Jetty (700 m)

Approach Channel(Length 18 km, 18 m draft)

Stock-Yard

Rail Link(62.7 km)

MaterialHandling System


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Port of Dhamra

90% of Land obtained

>25% construction completed

Port scheduled to be

operational by April 2010

PORT UNDER CONSTRUCTION


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Port of Dhamra

Environmental Clearance

The Environment Clearance for

the port was obtained under the CRZnotification ( As EIA notification would

not apply to activities in CRZ)

Being an area already notified as a

port, the clearance was granted by theEmpowered Committee for

Environmental Clearance of Ministry of

Surface Transport

A two year process through a numberof meetings

Original EIA supplemented by

additional studies and reports

Proposed Port

Proposed Channel

Kanika Sands

River Mouth

Maipura River

Nasi

Gahirmatha


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Port of Dhamra

Environmental Clearance Upheld By National Environment Appellate

Authority

The Environment Clearance was challenged before the NEAA.NEAA after visiting the site observed as follows :

The grant of EC for the said Port Expansion Project is made by Empowered

Committee for Environmental Clearance for Port Projects of MoST byfollowing the guidelines issued for Environmental Clearance of Ports issued

vide SO no (E) dated 9.7.97.

The area between the Low Tide Line and High Tide Line in the area to be

covered by Dhamra Port Expansion Project being of clay soil and very sticky it

could never become a breeding center for turtles.

The NEAA in a detailed judgment have upheld the Environment Clearance


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Port of Dhamra

However certain concerns about the

dangers posed by the port to the nesting ofOlive Ridley turtles have been expressed at

various quarters.

Most of these are either based on myths or

apprehensions which are not true or are due tolack of knowledge of the exact location of the

port vis--vis turtle nesting and breeding and

of the fact that the NEAA after visiting the

site has considered all aspects and upheld the

environment clearance to the port.

The Concerns Continues


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Part II

DHAMRA PORT AND OLIVE RIDLEY

TURTLES

Some Concerns and the Facts


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Port of Dhamra

The olive ridley turtles visit the Orissa

coast for nesting. They come in hundreds ofthousand and nest along almost the entire

Orissa Coast either sporadically or en masse.

Gahirmatha, Debi and Rushikulya are the

three nesting beaches where mass nestingtakes place

Hatching takes place about 45 days after

nesting when the hatchlings reenter the sea.

A large number of dead turtles are foundalong the coast every year, the chief reason

being getting caught in fishing nets

Hatchling casualty is a natural phenomenon

mostly due to predator attack, apart fromattack by stray dogs and birds

The Olive Ridley Turtle


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The Facts

Concern : Proposed Port is located at the mouth of River Dhamra where turtles

congregate and nest.

Fact : The Port is located not at the mouth of River Dhamra but on the coast

to the North of mouth of River Dhamra.

There are two distinct channels of

River Dhamra, a Northern one and

a Southern one (referred to asEastern Channel).

Distance between those is as much

as 4 kms.

Channels are further separated by

an island in the sea called KanikaSands which is again approx.

8 kms wide.

Proposed Port

Proposed Channel

Kanika Sands

River Mouth

Maipura River

Nasi

Gahirmatha


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Fact : Turtles nest at Gahirmatha which is south of River Maipura which is

in fact another river with a separate river mouth south of River Dhamra.

The Facts

Between the port site and the

Gahirmatha nesting site there

are two river mouths, a lot of

land mass and a number of

islands


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GAHIRMATHA

NASI I & II

The site of the proposed port is 30kms away from nesting area by sea and

15 kms as the crow flies

Fact : As per report of Chief Wild Life Warden, Orissa :

The Facts


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Fact : The Proposed Port site is unsuitable for turtle nesting.

Observations Of National Environment Appellate Authority

The area between the low tide line and high tide line in the area to be

covered by Dhamra Port expansion project being of clay soil and verysticky could never become a breeding center for turtles.

The Facts


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Fact : Proposed site for Port lies in the only sector of Orissa coast where

turtles do not nest

Sl.No.

Coast Name& Length

Natureof Beach

Features

I Balasore (130 kms)[Dhamra Port areacomes under thisstretch]

GenerallyMuddy

Shallow Coast; no turtle nesting

II Gahirmatha (35kms)

Sandy Wide beach; Extensive mangrove and Casuarinasvegetation; Turtle nesting in 4-km long sand spits.

III Paradeep (55 kms) Sandy Depleted Mangroves & extensive Casuarinas vegetation;

Turtle nesting is sporadic.

IV Kujang (30 kms) Sandy Scattered sand dunes; extensive Casuarinas plantation;Turtle nesting is sporadic.

V Devi (30 kms) Sandy Mangroves degraded; sand binder & casuarinasvegetation; Wide beach; sand dunes scattered 2-3 m high.Turtle nesting in 3-km long sand spits.

VI Puri (55 kms) Sandy Casuarinas vegetation; very high sand dunes 10-12 mhigh; Turtle nesting is sporadic.

VII Chilka (70 kms) Sandy Sand binder vegetation; sand dunes 5-6 m high; Turtlenesting is sporadic.

VIII Ganjam (60 kms) Sandy Wide beach; Scattered sand dunes 1-2 m high; Degradedcasuarinas vegetation Turtle nesting in 2-km long sandspits.

Source: Book titled Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys Olivacea) and its nesting habitats along

Orissa coast, India - a status survey by B.Pandav, B. C. Choudhury and C. S. Kar ;Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, July 1994

The Facts


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Source:Article titled Tracking Turtles Through

Time and Space, written by

Mr. Kartik Shanker which appeared in

June 2002 issue of Science Education

Journal Resonance published by IndianAcademy of Sciences, Bangalore.

The Facts


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WII STUDY OF OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLES IN ORISSA 2000WII STUDY OF OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLES IN ORISSA 2000

Name of Study: Conservation and Management of Olive Ridley sea

turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Orissa

Objective: Study of habitat, and distribution of Olive Ridley

Turtles along the entire 480 Km coast of Orissa

Methodology: Tagging and watching behaviour and movement of

more than 3000 turtles off Gahirmatha and other

nesting places of Orissa over three turtle seasons

between 1996-99Sighting of mating pairs in all directions until non

sighting beyond 2 Km

Recovery of tagged turtles in different directions


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Findings:

Nesting of Olive Ridley takes place along the entire coastline south ofDhamra river mouth

Breeding congregation and mating pairs were found within a area of 52sq. km in the coastal water off Gahirmatha of which the maximum

utilization area was 27.52 sq. km. The above area falls within the 1400 sq. km. of sea declared as marine

sanctuary

The turtles come from south to the coast of Orissa

Recovery of tagged turtles near Sri Lanka also suggests that they goback south after nesting (the males after mating season


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Area of utilization (100% MCP) by olive ridley sea turtle mating pairs in the reproductive patch off

Gahirmatha during 1997-98 mating season.


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Mating cconcentration as per WII study juxtaposed over admiralty chart


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Turtle movement route shown on the basis of WII report

DHAMRA PORT

Gahirmatha Nesting Beach

PARADIP PORT

Rushikulya Nesting Beach

Devi Nesting Beach

PORTS EXIST WHERE TURTLES EXIST

Th F t


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Fact : The Proposed Port site is outside the limits of Gahirmatha

Sanctuary and National Marine Sanctuary.

Port Notification of Dhamra including

present site existed since 1931. The

sanctuary limits as finally notified have

never been altered.

The port is sufficiently away from the limits

of national marine sanctuary which includes

core as well as buffer area with

reference to turtle congregation. Not

allowing economic development beyond thesanctuary limits may not be in the overall

national interest.

The Facts

Th F t


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Concern : The ships entering the port will cut through turtle congregation areas.

Fact : The ship entry route is far away from where turtles congregate.

This concern is arisen from lack of awareness of :

The exact site of the port and its channel

From a belief that the existing southern channelwhich is mostly used by fishing trawlers is

going to be used by the ships as well.

Whereas the fact is that the port is at the northernchannel and has nothing to do with the southern

channel which is relatively close to the congregation

areas.

The Facts

The Facts


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Concern : The Port will immensely increase ship movement in the region.

Facts :

The number of ships entering the Port will be far too less than number of ships in other ports

for the same cargo as the size of the ships entering Dhamra Port to be in the order of more

than 170,000 tons against average size of 60,000 tons visiting other ports.

Olive Ridley Turtles are known to be transcontinental. They move across oceans touchingnumber of countries and criss-crossing multiple ship routes. Even before coming to

Gahirmatha they would be crossing the busy sea routes between Calcutta-Haldia and Srilanka.

In fact all ships touching Calcutta, Haldia and Bangladesh would be using this sea route.

Another port per se is not going to add to the ship traffic along this route.

Turtle casualty in the past has been studied with reference to causes of death and ship

movement and port activity has not been identified as major cause of casualty. Existing port

of Paradip is as far or as near to the marine sanctuary limits and on no account has the port or

ship movement been found to be responsible for increase or decrease of such turtle activity.

The Facts

The Facts


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Fact :

The port is located at a distance of 15 kms from the turtle nesting site.

The problem is one of ten days in a year when turtles hatch

can be only a glare from this distance.

The berth lighting will be designed in line of Coastal Roadway Lighting Manual, May

2002, prepared specially for turtle conservation by Florida Lighting & Power Co, USA.

IUCN Scientists are associated for guiding the design and execution of the lighting as per the

Florida Manual

In the worst scenario special measures can be taken during those ten days.

Concern : The Port will create artificial illumination which will be harmful to

turtle hatching.

The Facts

The Facts


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Facts :

Dredging The area for dredging is away from turtle sanctuary

There are proven methods and devices for preventing harm to turtles which are adopted underIUCN guidance followed.

We are associating IUCN for an assessment of impacts of dredging as well as depute scientists

to ensure that dredging does not harm the turtles.

Concern : The Dredging and Port Operation will harm turtles.

The Facts

Port Operation

Movement of ships is restricted only within the navigation channel.

Speed of ships in the channel will be restricted to less than 10 knots (Australian practice).

During the turtle season, survey of turtle movements will be monitored by marine biologists

constantly.

We are associating IUCN for advising us in the matter.

The Facts


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The Kanika sands to the south providetranquility, protection from littoral drift,cyclonic effect as well as a barrier system fromturtle activities.

Further north is Military Practice Areaand further south is the turtle sanctuary

Deep sea goes farther as you go north.

Opinion: The Port could have been located further north.

Fact : The proposed site of Dhamra port and its channel lie in the northernmost possible site suitable for a port.

The Facts

Port of Dhamra


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Port of Dhamra

DPCL and its promoters invited the

concerned NGOs to undertake further studythey think necessary at the formers cost

DPCL even withheld construction for one

full season at the instance of BNHS who

agreed to do the studyFirst WWF and then BNHS backed out

after agreeing to study under pressure from

those who wanted to continue the campaign

without allowing the truth to be revealed

DPCL invited concerned NGOs for further study

Port of Dhamra


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Port of Dhamra

DPCL invited IUCN, the worlds premier

scientific body on wildlife to help DPCL toassess the situation and put in place an

appropriate Environment Management Plan

IUCNs overall assessment in the form of

Scoping Mission Report can be seen at

websites of IUCN and DPCL

www.dhamraport.com

DPCL invites IUCN

Port of Dhamra
http://www.dhamraport.com/http://www.dhamraport.com/


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Port of Dhamra

Evaluation of past, ongoing and future neededresearch.

Obtaining stakeholders input through consultations.

Development of a sound Environment Management

Plan.

Assessment of impacts of lighting and dredging and

development of best practices protocols.

Future Initiatives.

Partnership with IUCN : Promoting Sustainable Environmental Alliances

DPCL is committed to proactive measures for conservation of turtles by :

IUCN Recommendations


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While reaffirming that shipping activity and turtle habitations

coexist in many parts of the world, IUCN have identified two

potential areas for extra care and precautions Dredging

Illumination

The IUCN has posted a full time Project Manager for the

Dhamra project.



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Dredging

An expert group of IUCN (from Marine Turtle Specialist Group)

consisting of scientists already working on dredging in turtle inhabitedarea visited the site and have concluded that

The area along the Main channel (which includes the port site) is having a

sea bed which is muddy and covered with a silty cloud where turtles are

not likely to be staying for long time and no extra measure need be takenhere. It may be mentioned here that the major part of dredging (more than

90%) is going to be in this area.

The area where sand is proposed to be sourced for reclamation, although

accounting for smaller part of the total dredging and is an one timeoperation, would require extra care and measures which includes turtle

deflectors and inflow screens. These measures have been successfully

taken by DPCL to the satisfaction of IUCN.



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Illumination

The IUCN has furnished Technical Reports (Understanding, Assessing

and Resolving Light-Pollution Problems on Sea Turtle NestingBeaches) by Florida Department of Environmental protection and have

recommended that the same may be followed for illumination in the

port area.

The illumination and lighting of the port is being designed as per

advice of IUCN by the port engineers and consultants

The IUCN has further recommended that the manual may be followed

for coastal lighting along the Orissa coast. The same has beencirculated to the state authorities.


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Part III

Greenpeace and Dhamra Port Project

GREENPEACE OPPOSITION TO THE PORT


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Project conceived (RITES Study ) 1994

MOU signed (GoO & ISPL, a JV of

L&T, PSL (Thailand), SSA (USA)) 1998 GoO applied for Env. Clearance 1998

Env. Clearance obtained 2000

Appeal filed before NEAA 2000

Clearance Upheld by NEAA 2000

Tata Steel Enters 2004

Greenpeace opposes 2005/06

GREENPEACE OPPOSITION STARTED ONLY AFTER ENTRY OF

TATA STEEL

GREENPEACE OPPOSITION TO THE PORT

GREENPEACE GOES TO PRESS


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In May, 2007 Greenpeace went to press with a report said to

be prepared by North Orissa University (NOU)

NOU in a press conference disowned the report as the original

report had been doctored

NOU publishes the original report in its website

Neither original nor doctored version really throws light on

turtle issue a one line reference to live turtles which could

not be seen in the port area and a one page report on dead

turtles both portions doctored by Greenpeace

Greenpeace flaunted the report as evidence of turtle presence

in the port area

GREENPEACE GOES TO PRESS

TURTLE PRESENCE MYTH AND REALITY


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Greenpeace has time and again referred to evidence of turtlepresence to prove that the port is ill-located

Turtles per se can be found all along the Orissa coast includingat Paradip where a port exists and at Gopalpur and Jatadhariwhere new ports are coming up

More turtles can be seen at Paradip and Jatadhari which are

between nesting beaches and south of Gahirmatha, south beingwhere the turtles come from

Turtles and ports co-exist in many parts of world

Ports do not kill turtles. Trawl fishing does. That is whyfishing is banned within 5 km of coast even at Paradip whereport exists.

Common man is misled about presence of turtles

TURTLE PRESENCE MYTH AND REALITY

GREENPEACE DISINFORMATION ON EIA REPORT


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Greenpeace published a critique of EIA to suggest that EIA

did not consider present location and turtles

Supplementary volumes of EIA presented before ECEC were

not disclosed by Greenpeace

Public misled with half truths.

GREENPEACE MEETS DPCL


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Greenpeace in their last meeting with DPCL in January summarized their

concerns into seven points:

1. The Environment clearance for Dhamra Port was obtained under a clause in the actwhich treated the Port as an expansion within Port limits of an existing minor Port. Thequestion is that is this a fair description of the port that is coming up there. The second

point with respect to the environmental clearance is that there was subsequently anappeal that was filed by the local NGO to the National Environmental AppellateAuthority (NEAA) that the NEAA investigated and dismissed and confirmed the

clearance. We have reason to believe that the process was collusive between the localNGO and the promoters at that time.

2. We would like to understand what is Tata Steels position with respect to the Port on theapplication of the precautionary principle. We think that the proximity of such a major

port to one of the largest turtle congregation zones in the world is a cause for major

concern as the potential impacts are irreversible.3. We just heard that the Tata Chemicals project in Tanzania has been relocated by the

Tatas. The Tatas have progressively agreed to relocate by 30 kms. We would like tounderstand why this is a fit case for application of precautionary principle while theDhamra case is not.




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4. The IUCN has stated in the Marine Turtle Newsletter that in IUCNs opinion the best

option would be not to have the port in its current location and that the promoters are

not willing to stop development till the study is done and that they are in the process of

preparing mitigation plans. Given that the Tatas are using the IUCNs involvement asthe most visible example of their sincerity and their concern for the environment, we

would like to understand what Tata Steels position is on the stated position of the

IUCN.

5. What is Tata Steels response to the fact that one out of four satellite tagged turtles in

the WII study went in the Dhamra region, off the port site.6. The Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court made a clear

recommendation that this port be relocated from its current location. This was after the

NEAAs clearance. We would like to understand how Tata Steel views this

recommendation.

7. The Dhamra Port area was originally part of Government of Orissas proposednotification for the Bhitarkanika National Park and Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary and

this was subsequently taken out of the ambit of the sanctuary before the official

notification. To us this is a further illustration of the fact that this is an area that is

considered ecologically sensitive. How does this square with Tata Steels moral

position.




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DPCL has replied to the concerns in great detail

DPCL reply can be seen at the website

www.dhamraport.com. (Copy circulated)

There is no unresolved issue to justify the campaign

The campaign is malicious and personalized


DPCL NOT TO BE DETERRED
http://www.dhamraport.com/http://www.dhamraport.com/


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The port is a public infrastructure identified as a

requirement for the region

DPCL is undertaking the task with environmental

measures globally accepted as best

DPCL is aware of its social and environmental

responsibility

DPCL is committed to sustainable development

The port is already under construction and will becompleted as per schedule


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Thank You

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