Enayam Port

Tamil Research Institute
RAPID TECHNO-ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY REPORT FOR
DEVELOPMENT OF COLACHEL PORT AT TAMILNADU
FINAL REPORT
As for railway and access roads construction, traffic both along the rail and road will be primarily due to port
development and in first phase, one or two container trains run per day. Nevertheless there will be some level of
Noise quality impacts along the project corridor in construction. Construction stage impacts will be of short term
but have adverse impacts on the construction workers as well as the settlements adjacent to the road and rail
alignment, especially those in the down wind direction.
Noise created during construction activities may force birds to temporarily migrate to others places. During the
construction stage, crusher, sets and mixture machine and diversion of traffic will lead to rise in noise level,
ultimately results in increase in the ambient noise quality. However, the impacts during construction are short-term
in nature and will cease on completion of the construction.
Impacts during operations mainly will result from the port terminal activities such as vessel loading/unloading,
container handling and access road/rail traffic that will result from container traffic arriving and departing
through the port business day. Seawater is an efficient medium for sound propagation, particularly low frequency
sound and therefore marine life over a wide area could be potentially affected. The day to day terminal activities
such as vessel loading / unloading, container handling etc. will cause additional underwater noise emissions.
These are however not expected to be significant.
Road and rail noise depends on factors such as traffic intensity, the type and condition of the vehicles/trains
plying on the road/railway line, acceleration/deceleration/gear changes by the vehicles depending on the
level of congestion and smoothness of road surface. The baseline noise levels monitored at various locations
along the candidate road indicate the baseline levels is exceeding the permissible limits for residential and rural
areas and exceeds in some commercial areas. This is mainly because of the high density of road network and
the traffic plying on them and towards sea the coastal wave actions also add up to the noise levels. Even the
night, noise levels recorded at the various locations are close to or higher than the noise levels allowed during
daytime.
This impact will be confined to receptors close to the road and rail. Both the construction and operation stage
impacts can be effectively mitigated if the impacts have been assessed with reasonable accuracy in the design
stage itself. During operation stage rise in noise level may arise due to increase in traffic. However, during this
period noise pollution will be negligible, nevertheless a proper Environmental Management Plan (EMP) will be
formulated for noise pollution.
5.1.1. Port operation
Operation of the port (container terminal, multi-purpose cargo, and cruise) does not include bulk or uncovered
materials exported from or imported to the terminal or stored on site. The sources of air pollutants from port
operations include combustion emissions from ships propulsion and auxiliary engines and boilers, mainly
consisting of sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO X ), greenhouse gases (e.g. carbon dioxide [CO 2 ] and
carbon monoxide [CO]), fine particulate matter [PM], and volatile organic compounds [VOC]), followed by
combustion source emissions from vehicles, port equipment and land-based engines and boilers contributing
similar pollutants. Volatile organic compounds (VOC) may also be emitted fuel storage and transfer.
However increased traffic on the access road has the potential to cause an impact on the air quality experienced
by the residents along the access road; specifically an increase in pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen and
particulates. Concentrations of primary pollutants generated by road traffic decrease exponentially with
increasing distance from the road.
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