With CRZ nod pending, Shipping Min flags award of work for Haldia terminal by IWAI

The Ministry of Shipping (MoS) has flagged concerns regarding the award for work for Haldia multi-modal terminal even as a final order on Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance is pending. In an advisory sent in August, the MoS told the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), that it should have waited for a formal orders on CRZ clearance from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) before it awarded work for the Rs.516 crore Haldia multi-modal terminal. MoEF&CC's expert panel on infrastructure and CRZ recommended for the project clearance on May 11.

As per procedure, the recommendations of the expert panel are processed by the minister for approval or rejection.

The IWAI had to seek CRZ clearance as the Haldia terminal site falls within the CRZ area. The West Bengal State Coastal Management Authority appraised the project on January 10 and recommended it to Centre for clearance on January 24. According to the MoS, in December 2016, Mumbai-based ITD Cementation India Limited won the bid for construction of the terminal and the work was awarded this year on June 30.

The Haldia terminal is part of the larger Jal Marg Vikas Project on River Ganga, which involves developing the 1-620kms-long National Waterway-I (NW-I) between Allahabad and Haldia. According to a MoS release from September 2016, the terminal has already received an estimated cargo commitment of 5.92 million tons per annum.

The Shipping ministry's advisory to IWAI comes in the wake of its on-going dispute with MoEF&CC over the need of environmental clearance (EC) to dredge River Ganga for navigation of vessels on NW-I. In July, DNA reported that on the recommendations of an expert committee, the MoEF&CC had told IWAI in June that maintenance dredging for NW-I could not be exempted from the ambit of EC. It said that the exemption could not granted since the whole project itself had not obtained EC under the Environment Impact Notification (EIA), 2006, and its amendments.

The committee, which deliberated on the issue, had also recommended that the EIA notification should be amended to include 'inland waterways, jetties and multi-modal terminals under the list of items that need a prior EC to bring more clarity on such projects.

IWAI declined to comment on the issue. DNA mailed queries to the office of Secretary, MoS and an a response through an under-secretary, the ministry stated, "Ministry of Shipping in its letter dated August 21 has suggested to IWAI that it should have waited for the formal orders from the MoEFCC and IWAI was requested to obtain the formal approval of MoEFCC. IWAI in its letter dated August 22 has informed that the matter has been taken up with MoEFCC."

MoEF&CC officials could not be reached for a comment.