Krishnapatnam Port receives environment sustainability award

Krishnapatnam Port, recognized as one of India's largest ports and ranked amongst world's finest ports connecting the eastern and western parts of the world, has received the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award.

Krishnapatnam Port, one of India's fastest growing seaports, is a deep water all weather port with 365 days, 24x7 operations being developed on Build-Operate-Share-Transfer (BOST) basis in Public-Private Partnership mode between the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited promoted by C.V.R. Group.

The Greenfield port situated in the Muthukur Mandal of Nellore district, in Andhra Pradesh, is spread across 6,800 acres. It commenced first phase of operations in July 2008, handling bulk cargo comprising iron ore, coal, agri commodities, minerals, edible oil, fertilizers and project cargo.

Currently the second phase of development is under completion which also saw the container operations commencing in September 2012, apart from capacity enhancement in bulk and break bulk cargo handling capacity. Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal is poised to develop into a world-class Container Terminal by optimizing necessary land and sea-side infrastructure.

Environment protection is at the heart of Krishnapatnam Port's corporate governance and philosophy. Some of the green initiatives taken by the port include – plantation of over 20 lakhs trees, within the port and more than 50,000 trees in the surrounding villages, installation of solar lights in the port and solar water heaters in the employee colony, establishing gas connections for villagers so as to discourage them from cutting of mangroves, adoption of Nellore town traffic islands and public buildings for maintaining greenery around the areas etc. The port has adopted environment health and security program that encourages continuous improvement in environment protection and includes - waste management, pollution control, resource conservation, use of renewable resources etc.

Within the port, Krishnapatnam Port has electrified railway line network from all storage yards as part of its sustainable strategy, thus leading to a reduction of carbon dioxide to the extent of 24,935 tones and also reducing the diesel consumption of railway engines and GHG emissions. Currently the port is in the process of electrifying all its cranes so as to reduce diesel consumption and moving towards solar and wind energy to reduce fossil fuel usage.

The port's 4 R's strategy adopted by the port helps in - Reduction of water requirements by adopting new technology called atomisers, reuse of water collected from guard ponds after wetting the yards, Recycling methods wherein 300 KL of domestic sewage is treated and recycled for green belt development and 400 kl of truck wash water, which is treated and recycled for dust suppression, and recharge by developing 12  rain water harvesting ponds with a total catchment area of about 5.26 lakh sq. m., harvesting and recharging ground water about 1.54 lakh. M3 per year.

C Sasidhar, managing director, Krishnapatnam Port, said, ''We have created a socioeconomic atmosphere in Krishnapatnam that immensely benefited the surrounding inhabitants fostering sustainable growth.

''Going forward, our goal is to achieve sustainable development and maximize the positive impact by creating value for the society. We will continue to invest in education, skill promotion, job creation, health and safety programs, environment management that leads to overall economic development in the region,'' he further added.

Over the years, Krishnapatnam Port has taken considerable steps in maintaining and safeguarding environment not just around its own premises but also reaching out to the communities and nearby industrial region. Setting an example, the port has encouraged the surrounding areas and societies to adopt environment friendly and sustainable operations, thus achieving a healthy balance between environment protection and development of the region.