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Colombo North Port: EIA warns of adverse impact on marine environment
View(s):The newly released environmental impact assessment (EIA) for Sri Lanka’s proposed Colombo North Port (CNP) states the project is likely to have a number of “significant adverse residual impacts” predominantly on the marine environment and recommends that the authorities weigh these against the wider economic benefits of the initiative.
The 549-page EIA by AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited has been released by the Coast Conservation Department for public comment. Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman Keith Bernard said a feasibility study has also been done and that, while it is still in a nascent stage, the project is on the cards.
Residual impacts are important as they occur after the application of mitigation (minimizing or avoiding) measures. “Significant residual impacts during operation are primarily associated with changes in the physical marine environment due to the presence of structures including the breakwaters and river training wall,” the EIA observes, adding that these are largely unavoidable with a project of the nature and scale of CNP.
“It will therefore be important that the relevant consenting authorities weigh these adverse impacts against the wider economic benefits that are likely to result from the development,” it states.
The report identifies 27 significant adverse residual impacts and says “it is perhaps unsurprising for a port development that most impacts of high adverse significance were associated with the marine environment”.
The impacts are related to habitat loss–of turtles, fish and macrozoobenthos such as reefs, molluscs, crabs, lobster and shrimp–due to the construction of port infrastructure as well as changes to wave conditions and coastal morphology (shape and structure of coastal systems or subsystems) owing to the physical presence of new port structures such as breakwaters and river training wall.
The EIA urges the government to include its proposed mitigation methods and environment and social management plan in the tender documents, even though the SLPA bears the responsibility for their implementation–as the construction contractor does the physical work.
The existing Colombo Port has several limitations, including that its depth is between 15 and 18 meters. This means it cannot berth the latest generation container ships. The terminal is underused for container vessels, the EIA says, and often used for roll-on-roll-off cargo, when it can be used for general cargo more often.
SLPA will initially expand the South Port. The proposed CNP project is aimed at accommodating forecasted growth in cargo up to the year 2050, in particular gateway (import/export) and transshipment containers. The project will be north of the Colombo Port, on the Western coastline where the Kelani River enters the Indian Ocean.
The EIA estimates the construction workforce required for each phase of construction to be around 300 to 500 people. The project footprint is estimated to be 409 hectares in total while 405 ha (99%) of this will be offshore.
Meanwhile, the report also states that there has not been any noticeable accumulation of sediment following the construction of the Port City Development. Had there been a buildup, this would have been apparent from a seaward advance of the shoreline position, it points out, adding that this has not occurred.
It can therefore be assumed that the net transport of sediment along the coastline is relatively low, the EIA maintains, probably lower than the estimated rate of 109,000m cubic meters per year based on recent sediment modeling.
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