Dhamra Port

Dhamra Port Company Limited

Type	Private
Industry	Marine
Headquarters	2nd floor, Fortune Towers, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar- 751023
Key people	Mr. Santosh K. Mohapatra (Chief Executive Officer)
Website	www.dhamraport.com

Port of Dhamra
—  port  —
Port of Dhamra Location of Port of Dhamra in Orissa and India
Coordinates	20°49′24″N 86°57′46″E / 20.82333°N 86.96278°E / 20.82333; 86.96278Coordinates: 20°49′24″N 86°57′46″E / 20.82333°N 86.96278°E / 20.82333; 86.96278
Country	India
State	Orissa
District(s)	Bhadrak district
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 0 metres (0 ft)

The Dhamra Port is a major newly developed Port in Bhadrak district, Orissa, India, on the shore of the Bay of Bengal about seven kilometers from the old port of Dhamra. The agreement to develop the port was signed in April 1998. The Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) was formed as a result of a 50:50 joint venture between Larsen & Toubro and Tata Steel to run the port.^[1] The Port received its first vessel on 8 February 2010 and the first commercial vessel on 10 April 2011.^[2] The Port has an initial capacity of 25 million tonnes annually, eventually growing to 80 million tonnes annually.^[3] Greenpeace has opposed the project, claiming it threatens nearby protected areas and endangered species such as the Olive Ridley turtle^[4]

Objectives

Construction of a $12 billion steel plant by Posco of South Korea, and the new port of Dhamara, promise to bring jobs and development. The port will be used to export iron ore from a nearby mineral belt.^[5] The Orissa government has plans to develop related industries near the new port, including a shipbuilding yard and a petro-chemical and gas-based manufacturing hub. A Special Investment Region has been proposed for Dhamara, and a zoning plan is being prepared to cover housing, health services and other urban infrastructure.^[6]

Construction

The Government of Orissa signed an agreement with International Seaports in April 1998 to develop the port on a BOOST (Build-Own-Operate-Share-and-Transfer) basis. The agreement covers a four years construction phase followed by thirty years of operations. In May 1999 the job was transferred to the Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL).^[7] Work on construction began in 2005, and by 2006 acquisition of land for the rail corridor was almost complete.^[8]

The planned port would have 13 berths with the capacity to handle 83 million tonnes annually. In the first phase, two 350 meter berths have been built to handle import of coking coal, steam coal, thermal coal and limestone, and export of iron ore and steel, with fully mechanized cargo handling. An 18 km navigational channel lets ships with an 18 meter draught use the port. Capacity in the first phase is 15.25 million tonnes of imported coal and limestone and 9.75 million tonnes of exported ore and steel.^[9]

A 62 km single-track railway line links the port to Bhadrak/ Ranital,was opened on 8 May 2011.^[10] It is the first line of the Indian Government's Railways Infrastructure for Industry Initiative, a revenue sharing model.^[10] It is an arrangement between Indian Railways and Dhamara Port.^[10]

In September 2010 the port received its first cargo vessel, an Australian ship bringing 45,000 tonnes of coking coal to supply Tata Steel's Jamshedpur plant.^[11]

Environmental concerns

The coast of Orissa is periodically battered by cyclones, which cause tidal surges that may cause devastating floods. In the past, the coast was protected by a 5 km belt of mangroves, but the belt has shrunk due to developments such as dams on the rivers that supply fresh water to the trees. An unusually violent cyclone in 1999 created tidal surges 7 meters high that swept inland, killing 10,000 people and causing property damage that affected several million inhabitant of the coastal strip. There is a concern that the deep water port will further damage the mangroves, including those at the nearby Bhitarkanika Mangroves conservation area.^[5] In May 2010 a non-partisan group of 20 politicians began lobbying to halt construction, which they claimed was in violation of the Forest Conservation Act of 1980.^[12]

The planned port is located just north of the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, where from 200,000 to 500,000 female Olive Ridley turtles nest every year. Although the port site is not a nesting area, environmentalists are concerned that dredging and industrial pollution will disrupt the environment and the natural food chain.^[13] In July 2007, Greenpeace activists staged a rally in front of Bombay House, headquarters of the TATA Group, demanding a halt to construction of the port which they claimed would harm the turtles.^[14] The DPCL has rejected concerns about the impact. They state that all environmental clearances were obtained correctly, that the main breeding grounds for the turtles are well to the south, and that the shipping lanes will not cut across turtle migration routes.^[15] TATA & Sons filed a suit against Greenpeace in the Delhi High Court, claiming a "Turtle vs TATA" game on their website constituted defamation and trademark infringement.^[16]

References

1. ^ "Dhamra port". DHAMRA PORT COMPANY LTD. http://www.eco-dhamra.com/about-DPCL/dhamra-port.asp. Retrieved 2010-11-23. 
2. ^ "Dhamra Port Updates". Dharma Port Company Limited. http://www.dhamraport.com/latestUpdates.asp. Retrieved 6 September 2011. 
3. ^ "Dhamra Port on schedule". The Hindu. 27 May 2008. http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/27/stories/2008052755481600.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-23. 
4. ^ "TATA tries to silence critics, takes Greenpeace to court". Greenpeace. http://greenpeace.in/turtle/news/tata-tries-to-silence-critics-takes-greenpeace-to-court. Retrieved 2010-11-23. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Manipadma Jena (21 Jun 2010). "India: Development projects increasing cyclone vulnerability, experts warn". ReliefWeb. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-86N5L4?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
6. ^ "Panel for port-based industries at Dhamara". Business Standard. May 31, 2010. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/panel-for-port-based-industries-at-dhamara/396506/. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
7. ^ "History". Upakula Surakshya Abhijan. http://www.dhamraodisha.com/history.php. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
8. ^ "Dhamara port to be operational in 2010". OrissaDiary. November 6, 2006. http://www.orissadiary.com/Shownews.asp?id=3272. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
9. ^ "Plan". Upakula Surakshya Abhijan. http://www.dhamraodisha.com/plan.php. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
10. ^ ^{a b c} [1]
11. ^ "First vessel lands at Dhamara port". Business Standard. 20 September 2010. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/first-vessel-lands-at-dhamara-port/408557/. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
12. ^ "Green lobby seeks action against Dhamra port". Business Standard. May 18, 2010. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/green-lobby-seeks-action-against-dhamra-port/395270/. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
13. ^ "Tata Port Development Threatens Olive Ridley Sea Turtles (Orissa, India)". Mangrove Action. 29 June 2007. http://mangroveactionproject.org/news/action-alerts/tata-port-development-threatens-olive-ridley-sea-turtles-orissa-india/. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
14. ^ "Greenpeace activists blockade TATA office, demand the Company keeps promise to save turtles". Greenpeace India. July 17, 2007. http://www.greenpeace.org/india/en/news/greenpeace-activists-blockade1/. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
15. ^ "Perceptions & Facts". Upakula Surakshya Abhijan. http://www.dhamraodisha.com/perceptions-facts.php. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
16. ^ "TATA plea for injunction against Greenpeace listed for consideration on August 12". Greenpeace. July 30, 2010. http://greenpeace.in/turtle/. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 

External links

• "Dhamra Odisha An Initiative by Upakula Surakshya Abhijan". Upakula Surakshya Abhijan. http://www.dhamraodisha.com/. Retrieved 2010-11-23.