Abstract: | This report discusses the findings of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out
for the proposed 11-storey building at Shamna, Machchangoalhi, Chaandhanee Magu, Malé.
This project requires EIA as the building has a basement and the foundation of the building
goes below 6 feet, under EIA regulations 2012 such buildings require EIA clearance from
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The main objective of the EIA is to identify potential impacts of excavation, construction of
foundation and dewatering and consider mitigation measures that can be adopted. In addition,
the EIA would also consider other construction phase and operational phase activities such as
waste management, energy and water supply although they are not directly related to the scope
of the EIA.
The main aim of the project is to provide a residence to the proponent and family. In addition,
the proponent aims to rent out floors in the apartment building for residential and commercial
purposes.
Looking at the existing environment of the site, the site is devoid of any significant flora or
fauna. The traffic at Chaandhanee Magu is found to be moderate, this is mainly because of the
school located on the street. In this regard, it was found that mainly motor bikes and cars used
this road. The noise level at the site is high, like in other parts of Malé, mostly due to
construction activities undertaken nearby as well as the traffic. The groundwater quality is not
saline when compared to some other parts of Malé.
Almost all of the negative impacts envisioned for the project occurs during construction phase
and as highlighted previously most of these impacts are associated with substructure works.
However, almost all these impacts are minor and can be reduced to negligible levels with the
mitigation measures proposed in this report. In this regard, the potential negative impacts
associated with this project can be summarised as impacts related to groundwater quality and
quantity, impacts on nearby buildings in terms of structural damage, impacts on air quality,
impact on ambient noise, impacts on utility services, impacts on traffic and impacts on health
and safety. Mitigation measures proposed for the project like minimizing dewatering to the
shortest possible time, ensuring proper storage and transport of construction material and waste,
restricting noisy activities to day time, undertaking works by experienced operators and
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supervisors, avoiding closure of roads during peak rush hours and implementing international
best practice health and safety standards will help to reduce the influence of most of the
envisioned impacts to negligible levels.
The EIA report proposes a monitoring program that will help to identify the actual impacts and
to identify the effectiveness of the implemented mitigation measures. In this regard monitoring,
will include, monitoring of groundwater quality, monitoring of dust and noise, visual
assessment of nearby buildings and monitoring of traffic condition. The monitoring reports will
be submitted to EPA every two months during construction phase and once thereafter to meet
the requirements of the EIA regulations. The reports will be submitted in the format specified
in the EIA regulations.
Overall, this project is a positive project for the proponent and the negative impacts envisioned
are only for the construction phase and all these impacts can be easily mitigated. |