Abstract: | This report discusses the findings of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out
for the proposed 10-storey customer service building of Male’ Water and Sewerage Company
(MWSC). The project is proposed by the MWSC, the contract for construction phase has
been awarded to Amin Construction. This project requires EIA as the building has a
basement, under EIA regulations 2012 buildings with basement require EIA clearance.
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 project is to commence as soon as the EIA is approved and the duration of the project is
estimated to be completed by December 2017. Substructure works, which is considered to be
the most sensitive component (socially and environmentally), is expected to be completed
within two months. The critical elements of excavation and dewatering are expected to be
completed within 80 days. Therefore, the project has a critical impact timeframe of less than 4
months.
Currently MWSC does not have dedicated customer service centre, where all services can be
attained from one stop. The proposed project ensures such a service base to the customers are
provided, thus meeting this existing need of the company. This improved service also means
that additional jobs will be created thus contributing positively to the economy.
Looking at the existing environment of the site, the site is devoid of any significant flora or
fauna. The traffic is considerably high in Ameenee Magu during peak office and school hours
and majority of the structures within close radius of the site is structurally sound. The
groundwater quality is not very saline when compared to some other parts of Male’.
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 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 and the negative impacts envisioned are only for the
construction phase and all these impacts can be easily mitigated. |