Initial environmental evaluation (IEE) : dive centre jetty construction at Guraidhoo, South Male' Atoll, Republic of Maldives

Abstract

Water proof Sports limited (a UK based company in association with Mr. Jalaal (resident of Guraidhoo, south Male atoll has proposed to establish a professional dive and water sports centre at Guraidhoo. The proposal has been submitted to the government of Maldives for development approval. Land has been leased to the developer at Guraidhoo after assessment of the proposal by the Ministry of Home affairs and, province office and island office respectively. A copy of the proposal is given in appendix 1 as reference. Copy of the lease permit for the construction of the dive school is provided in Appendix 2. As part of the infrastructure associated with the dive school, a small size jetty dedicated to the dive school has been proposed to develop by the proponent. Coastal development structure such as jetties are required to submit an environmental impact assessment report as specified in the EIA regulation of Maldives that came effective in 2007. A scoping meeting to agree on the terms of reference was held at EPA on 29th December 2010. Based on the description of components project at the scoping meeting it was agreed among the stakeholder that a full EIA would not be required for the project. This was based on the small scale of the project and also its related impacts based on the environmental setting and location of the project. It was decided that an Initial Environmental Evaluation would be sufficient. This Initial Environmental Evaluation (IEE) report thus fulfils the requirements specified in the Terms of Reference (ToR) prepared for this project as output of the scoping meeting held at EPA between EIA consultant, proponent, representatives from EPA and other relevant stakeholders. In preparing the report consideration has been given to cover the environmental requirements that need to be covered by EIA regulations giving due consideration to the scale, location and usage of the project and its outputs. The Terms of Reference to the project is approved by EPA on 9th January 2011. A copy of ToR is given in Appendix 3. This IEE was based on the fieldwork visit by the consultant to Guraidhoo (project site) in January 2011 to collect site specific information on the project and qualitatively assess the environmental components that would be affected from the implementation of the project.