Enayam Port

Tamil Research Institute
RAPID TECHNO-ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY REPORT FOR
DEVELOPMENT OF COLACHEL PORT AT TAMILNADU
FINAL REPORT
5.3. ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
5.3.1. Introduction
The main objective of the environmental assessment is to undertake an environmental and social analysis of the
proposed alternatives giving each alternative an environmental and social dimension.
The assessment of alternatives is based on an estimation of discriminating impacts; i.e. impacts which can
distinguish between alternatives.
Hence, common or identical impacts that do not make any difference among proposed alternatives will not be
included in the analysis.
The methodology used to evaluate each alternative is based on the following steps:
• Identification of main Project impacts
• Identification of synthetic impact magnitude indicators
• Alternatives assessment
• Summary of adverse impacts of each alternative
After the possible design impacts are identified, the potential environmental and social effects of every design
alternative has been assessed based on the estimation of synthetic impact magnitude indicators. These impact
magnitude indicators have been designed to allow discrimination between the proposed alternatives.
Such indicators are grouped according to the environmental/social element affected. The values obtained are
included in an alternatives analysis where physical, biotic and social sub-factors will carry different weights.
This process assigns an environmental and social value to every alternative considered, enabling their
comparison in terms of environmental and/or social impact.
Analysis of each location is developed in the Initial Environmental Examination, included as Annexure 5 of this
Report. The following sections summarize the procedures and conclusions of this analysis.
5.3.2. Impacts identification and description
Impacts have been categorized into environmental and social. All these impacts have been evaluated using
objective criteria and numerical values in order to facilitate the comparison among all proposed alternatives.
Environmental impacts are:
• Impacts on coastal geomorphology (sediment transport, beach dynamics) due to the new breakwaters and
reclamation. Evaluation is made analyzing the quality and length of impacted shoreline.
• Impacts in Marine ecosystems due to dredging, land reclamation and port operation. Evaluation is made
through the amount of dredging and land reclamation needed in each alternative.
• Impacts in Hydrology due to the increase of water supply and inland facilities (new road and railway).
Assessment is made taking into account the length of inland new networks and distance to towns and
villages.
• Impacts in vegetation and terrestrial ecosystems. Evaluation is made by assigning an ecological value to
each type of vegetation and calculating the possible area that will likely get altered by the new port.
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