| Abstract: | The purpose of this document is to fulfil the requirements to get necessary environmental
clearance from the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out the proposed harbour
maintenance project in Kanditheemu Island, Shaviyani Atoll. The proponent of this project is
Ministry of Housing & Infrastructure.
The main rationale for the project is to improve the access facilities of Kanditheemu Island to
facilitate improvement in the social and economic condition of the island. The island has a
harbour and a reef entrance, but the harbour has become shallow overtime; increasing number of
vessels has led to congestion and the breakwater has been largely damaged, making it dangerous
to moor vessels in the basin.
This project mainly involves widening the harbour basin, construction of a new quay wall and
breakwater, and disposing the dredge waste in designated locations near the harbour. Part of the
existing reclaimed land is proposed to be dredged.
All project activities will be in conformance to the laws and regulations of the Maldives, and
relevant international conventions that Maldives is party to. The key laws and regulations
applicable to this project are: Environmental Protection and Preservation Act, Dredging and
Reclamation regulation and Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation 2012.
The island coastal environment has been modified due to the presence of the existing harbour,
reef entrance, and a separate basin and entrance for the boatyard. The coral cover on the outer
reef is in moderately healthy condition but there are signs of past sedimentation. The dominant
benthic substrate of the footprint is mainly sand and rubble.
Significant impacts of this project during construction phase of the project are potential
significant impacts on the marine environment due to excessive sedimentation, turbidity and
direct excavation. The specific impacts on the coral reef and lagoon environment include loss of
lagoon benthos organisms along the sand bed areas, temporary sedimentation in surrounding
areas particularly with table corals, loss of coral life, loss of seagrass beds and temporary
impacts on fish life. These impacts are likely to persist only in the short-term. There are some
risks related to coastal erosion in the long term. Impacts from vegetation removal are moderately
significant, but unavoidable. During the operation phase the main concern are the potential risks
to health and safety of users. Most of these impacts can be minimized with proper mitigation
measures recommended in the report. The project mainly has positive socio-economic benefits,
including increased direct and indirect job opportunities, improvement in island accessibility and
opportunities economic growth. Key mitigation measures for the construction stage include deployment bund walls to minimise
damage to the surrounding coral reefs and ground water lens, before commencing dredging.
Cost of mitigation is generally included in the contract value except for changes to the site plan
and additional options dredge waste disposal. The total cost of mitigation may be in the range of
Rf200,000 to Rf400,000 depending on the agreement between proponent and contractor on
alternatives.
The alternatives evaluated for the project are dredging methods, alternative option for preventing
future frequent sedimentation of harbour basin and a revised site plan. Among these, the revised
site plan and sediment control measures have been recommended. However, the sediment
control measures will depend on availability of funds as there will be a scope change. The
revised site plan has been suggested based more on social satisfaction since the environmental
impacts between the multiple options are similar, increasing only with the scope of works.
Alternative options for dredge waste disposal were explored including storage of part of the
material, replenishing eroded areas and leveling roads.
This project has strong support from the island community and the Island Council. However,
during public consultations, some members of the community including the Council expressed
disappointment with the proposed harbour layout as some of the proposed changes have not been
included by MHI and that a promised meeting between MHI and Council did not materialize.
Their main concern was related to the harbour width, where, according to them, the MHI has
promised to widen the harbour by another 50 m. They also raised concerns about the openings
on the edges of the harbour may allow sediments to seep through, something which they have
experienced in the previous harbour. This issue has been addressed as an alternative. They also
raised a previous request to widen the opening of the reef entrance. All these requests were
passed onto the proponent. It is recommended that the proponent have a public meeting or a
meeting with the Council to agree on the current site plan before mobilization. Otherwise, there
is a chance of public discontent with the current design after the works start.
Monitoring plan is designed to assess any changes to the coral reef environment of the island,
coastal changes and depth variations of channel as well the marine water quality as these are the
key areas that will be impacted from this project.
The Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for this project is designed to produce a
framework for anticipated impacts, including practicable and achievable performance
requirements and systems for monitoring, reporting and implementing corrective actions. In
addition, provide evidence of compliance to legislation, policies, guidelines and requirements of
relevant authorities. The framework also defines communications mechanisms, training, stakeholder engagement plan, including the Grievance Redress Mechanism, and health and
safety management plan.
In conclusion, this project has been designed in conformance to the relevant laws and regulations
of Maldives. The most significant impacts are expected to be short- to medium-term impacts on
marine and terrestrial environment. However, mitigation measures have been proposed to
adequately minimise these significant impacts and the proposed EMP defines the mechanisms to
implement and monitor these measures. |
