Sanjay Jog
Mumbai, Nov 9: P&O Ports of Australia has dropped its plans to develop a Rs 4,000-crore port at Vadhavan near Dahanu. The company has taken the decision as it could not get a loan from the World Bank for the project, according to government sources here. No confirmation could, however, be got from P&O officials.The company has not entirely abandoned its Indian plans and is reportedly considering alternative sites in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. P&O's decision was also prompted by the fact that the state government did little to expedite the project which was bogged down by bureaucratic delays and legal hurdles.
Observers believe that that the first sign of P&O wishing to exit from the project was apparent when it had made an offer to Reliance Industries to take a majority stake. In the initial equity pattern, P&O held 72 per cent but was willing to pare it to 26 per cent so that Reliance would pick up 46 per cent. And in the event of the Indian company wishing controlling stake, otherinvestors like the government of Maharashtra and ICICI could be persuaded to give the balance five per cent to Reliance.
Under the 50 year BOOT (build-own-operate-transfer) agreement between the state government and P&O, the licensee was free to fix value and denomination of tariff and there was a guarantee that no other port would come up between the Gujarat border and Mumbai.
P&O Ports' project was recently declared as "wholly impermissible and, therefore, illegal" by the Dahanu Environmental Protection Authority (DTEPA) headed by Justice C. Dharmadhikari. However as far as establishing the legality of constructing a port in a coastal zone regulation (CRZ) (I) was concerned, the DTEPA left it to the state government to approach the high court.
The DTEPA, in its order, stated that "in the regional plan prepared for the Dahanu area, there is no provision for a port at Vadhavan or any other site in Dahanu. The proposed project is therefore will be a clear violation of the plan." The order thereby clearlysealed the fate of the project under the Regional Plan, to implement which the Supreme Court had instituted the DTEPA. The DTEPA also stated that a vast mega port, such as the one P&O planned fell within the definition of an industry. And industries under the Dahanu plan could come in a 500 acre area already earmarked as an industrial zone. Taking note of a NEERI report which had already declared the port detrimental to the environment, the DTEPA acknowledged Dahanu as the last surviving green zone in that coastal area.
The DTEPA also stated, that although the regional plan could be changed, this would have to be in accordance with the notification of ecofragility of the area.It also rapped P&O Ports stating that it had not availed of the opportunity to given to conduct environmental surveys neccessary for the detailed environmental impact assessment report. P&O received permission to do so on August 11 but failed to provide the information to the DTEPA. Instead P&O had asked the DTEPA to first settle theissue of legality of the site.
When P&O first proposed the project it was opposed by environmental activists on two grounds. One, it violated the Dahanu notification of 1991 declaring the area as an eco fragile zone and two, it was illegal under the coastal zone regulation. The DTEPA declared the site illegal under the ecofragility notifications. It however left the entire issue of whether a port can be constructed in a CRZ untouched.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Read original at : http://www.expressindia.com/fe/daily/19981110/31455574p.html
