By now we have had quite an exposure to qualitative, semi-qualitative, quantitative and analytical techniques which could aid in taking a proper location decision. A location decision is quite a difficult and complex problem especially in the context of a developing country like ours which has a large variety of problems.
The distribution of industrial activity has been extremely uneven, because of unreasonable and neglected policies of the rulers/administrators of the country over the years. Almost about 50% of factory workers are found in Bombay and Calcutta. In 1951, 42% of factories were in the above two cities where 67% share of total industrial capital was invested and 63% share of industrial workers was engaged. Such tendencies of centralization are because of factors of agglomeration. Agglomeration refers to the advantages gained due to production being made less expensive due to the concentration of industries. In the industrial field, one can easily note the clustering/grouping together/localization of the jute industry in West Bengal and Textile Industry in Bombay and Ahmedabad. However, if due to any reason, the industrial unit is either unsuccessful or some difficult labour problems crop up, then there are a lot of subsequent hardships. Also with the point of a view of war and safety, the concentration of industry might not be a wise decision. The concentration of industry leads td the accumulation of unreasonable amount of workers which in turn creates crowded conditions, pollution, housing, schooling problems etc.
After independence, the government is trying to bring about a regional balance in industrial location as reflected in the Industrial Policy resolutions that favour dispersal/decentralization (because of the advantages of declamations factors). Balanced growth of all the areas or judicious dispersion of facilities in all the regions enables the nation to utilize both human and physical resources more effectively and efficiently. Agricultural, mineral and other resources can properly be tapped. Moreover, employment opportunities would be more equitably distributed. The needs of a particular area or community t would also be served. It would foster national unity and check regional dissatisfaction. The North-Eastern Region has been neglected for quite some time. It is now being given its due consideration. Several problems of a socio-economic nature such as, acute shortage of housing and essential food materials, spread of epidemics, diseases, gambling etc. arise due to the creation of slums. The slums can hopefully be reduced by proper dispersion of industries. The people come to cities in search of employment. This migration could be checked provided the right opportunities are provided at the right time.
Let us see where some industries other than the jute and textile industries which prefer a climate having high humidity are located.
Steel Plants: We find that most of the steel plants lie along the Bihar, Bengal, Orissa belt. In the manufacture of steel, it is always economical to transport the finished product rather than the raw material inputs like coal, lime-stone and iron ore because during production considerable weight reduction is involved. You might be knowing that there also exists a port based steel plant at Vishakhapatnam, which in addition to taking advantage of proximity of iron-ore and coal also avails of the port facilities which aids in importing plant and machinery during the construction phase of the steel plant and in exporting the finished products when the plant goes into production.
Cement Plants: Again in the case of cement manufacturing plants, the raw materials lose weight significantly in the process of transformation, and so the cement plants are located near the lime stone and coal deposits.
Fertilizer Industry: The main feed stocks for the fertilizer industry are gas, oil or naphtha and coal. Here gain the fertilizer plants are located near the source of raw materials. The locations of fertilizer plants at Namroop and Thal Vaishet based on gas, and those at Ramagundam, Talcher and Sindri based on coal are examples. In the case of naphtha or oil based plants most of the feed stock required is imported and hence, the plants are located near the ports.
Mangalore Fertilizers at Mangalore, Madras Fertilizers at Madras, FACT at Cochin and Hindustan Fertilisers at Haldia are the relevant location examples.
Machine-tool Industries: Unlike the previous cases discussed, in the machine-tool industry case, the proximity to the source of -raw material is not very significant. A number of other factors such as market factors and infrastructure will come into the picture. The machine tool industry is scattered over different parts of the country such as Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Ludhiana etc.
Nuclear Power Stations: The selection and evaluation of sites of nuclear power plants throughout the world have become increasingly difficult in recent years as pressure from various societal segments has resulted in strict consideration of the institutional environmental, safety, socio-economic and engineering factors affecting the sitting, construction and operation of such facilities. A comprehensive site selection process presents a formidable task to the decision makers. The site selection methodology combines selective screening to narrow down the search area and a classification and rating scheme to rank sitting possibilities in order of preference for detailed consideration.
The basic procedural steps used in the selective screening policy are summarized below:
- Countrywide screening-land availability, water availability seism tectonic areas,
- Candidate regions screening-hydrology, geology, land use, meteorology, accessibility, transmission lines, demography topography.
- Candidate sitting areas screening-ecology and other factors as in (b) above
This concludes the `regional’ approach heading to an aggregate of possible sites to be evaluated in detail for their suitability to host a nuclear power plant facility. Basic site considerations are, listed below:
- Institutional-required service data or on line availability, system reliability requirements, size and number of units/sites, search area boundaries
- Engineering safety-geology (seismic), hydrology (flooding and effluent disposal), demography, meteorology
- Functional: cooling water availability, geology (foundation, soil characteristics), accessibility (people, materials and components, transmission grid).
- Environmental Ecological sensitivity (site, transmission corridors; site environs); terrestrial, aquatic. Land Uses: (compatibility) dedicated lands, areas of historic and archaeological significance, water quantities and qualities, climatology, demography, aesthetics,
- Economic-Land costs, cooling system alternatives, site preparation costs: geology and topography, transmission line corridors, site: dictated special engineering safeguards.
- Socio-economic: Land owner dislocations, competitive use of resources (water and land), community attitudes and public acceptance, economic influence on existing life styles.
It is essential to conduct detailed studies for. the potential impact of nuclear power plant operation upon the natural characteristics of the ecology and environment. Many electric generating facilities have been located along the banks of rivers etc. so as to strategically utilise readily available cooling water for plant condenser needs. It is important to plan for effluent disposal so as to minimise pollution whether it be in the air, water or soil.
