Summary
Socioeconomics
The effects of the port expansion need to be considered as part of an
analysis of all project activities in the Toamasina area. The project is
expected to bring enormous economic benefits to the Toamasina area,
through creation of employment, demand for businesses, contributions to
educational institutions and improvements in infrastructure. Such an
economic stimulus will result in improved socioeconomic status overall.
The project will partner with the city of Toamasina and commune
governments to jointly manage the challenges of urbanisation.
Emphasis will be to see that the project is well integrated into the
Toamasina area as a sustainable development initiative. It needs to be
considered that economic benefits in and of themselves are associated
with improved socioeconomic status. To the extent that there is potential
for negative effect, direct mitigation and an adaptive management
strategy will be put in place to address evolving effects are expected to
enhance the realization of benefit.
Port of Toamasina
In a context of already ongoing rural urban migration, the Ambatovy
Project is certain to provide additional stimulus. Given constraints on
housing and physical infrastructure in Toamasina, and distance between
the city and the plant site, it is expected that many migrants will choose
to relocate closer to the site than in the city itself. However as
businesses gear up to supply the project, this will attract migrants to the
city centre. Also, since many project employees will live in Toamasina,
the induced economic effect of increases in disposable income will
provide opportunities for migrants. As noted for the plant site, an influx
of workers also brings a potential array of negative effects. The project
will work with the city of Toamasina and communes affected, to manage
to the extent possible the expected increases in population.
Environment
During construction, drilling of the pilings will disturb sediments and
cause re-suspension of contaminants. During final design, drilling
options to best limit this contamination will be chosen. However, at the
present time Mole A is regularly dredged, which releases sediment.
Although noise impacts will be short term, investigation will continue on
the utilization of techniques such as a bubble curtain around the pile
driver, to reduce the spread of acoustic noise in the marine environment.
The possibility of the introduction of exotic marine organisms by ships
will occur throughout the life of the port and as such it is an impact that
occurs during both the construction and operational phases. This threat
is not unique or new, and is a problem currently faced by the Port of
Toamasina and ports around the world. The main mechanisms by which
organisms could be introduced will be through ballast water of ships,
which originate from their previous area of operation. Mitigation in the
form of a rigorous ballast water plan and extensive cleaning of the
dredgers will be important to reduce the probability of occurrence.
January 2006
Ambatovy Project — 47
