Environmental Considerations in Port Development: A case study on New Doha Port Project

Environmental planning within ports is a fascinating area of investigation which is arguably under-represented in the literature. Port expansion or development can make a significant contribution to economic development and the growth of maritime transport, it may also create adverse impacts on the surrounding environment. In today‟s world of increased environmental awareness, a port must be planned, designed and managed in harmony with both the physical and biological coastal environments. This research has the purpose to investigate the environmental factors considered during the port development. A study of the current knowledge, in form of a literature review, has been carried out. This research was able to explore the environmental factors in port development in terms of environmental issues, environmental planning and environmental protection policies. These variables reflect the current knowledge on this subject from different viewpoints and hence became the theoretical framework for this research project. The research was carried out in form of a case study and New Doha Port Project (NDPP) being a Greenfield port under construction is taken as the case. Within the boundaries of the theoretical framework, the case study was investigated with the help of various research methods. These include review of literature, site inspection and open ended interviews. The qualitative data was analysed by content analysis, to point out relationships between the propositions of the participants and the theoretical framework. It has to be mentioned, that this case study only includes a single port development project and the result of the investigation cannot be applicable to the whole population.Plymouth Business Schoo