Vizhinjam Seaport Project: Centre clears ToR

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has finally cleared the Terms of Reference (ToR) for conducting the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for the multi-crore Vizhinjam Seaport Project, Ports Minister K Babu said on Tuesday.A 15-member team led by Ports secretary Manoj Joshi had met the Project Appraisal Committee of the MoEF on Tuesday. Earlier, the committee had rejected the ToR application of the State twice, in January and in early May. The Ports Minister said that the State Government had been at great pains during the past week to get the ToR cleared."Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had met Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh in New Delhi on May 20 to discuss the issue. He had also been in communication with him on Tuesday morning. The Ports Department had been at the job all through last week," Babu said.He said that the UDF Government was committed to spurring on the project, and cited the ToR clearance as a first step.It is understood that the Project Appraisal Committee has underscored the need for a thorough EIA with regards to the approximately Rs 6,000-crore port project, a flagship project of successive governments in Kerala and an emotional issue for the people of Thiruvananthapuram. The EIA had been planned to be conducted over three seasons, which had included the current south-west monsoon period.In January, the MoEF committee had blamed Kerala for providing a vague proposal for getting the ToR cleared. With multiple port projects planned all along the southern coastline of the country, extreme care was necessary for preventing environmental degradation. The committee, which met for its 100th meeting on May 11 and 12, rejected the proposal a second time. It cited possible impact on the fisheries in the area as a problem. The committee also urged Kerala to conduct a fresh techno-economic feasibility study to ensure that Vizhinjam stood a fair chance against the other ports coming up in the area.