Environmental impact assessment for island access and jetty construction project in Fulhadhoo, Baa. Atoll

Abstract

1. The proponent of B. Fulhadhoo Island access and Jetty development project is the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure (MHI). The Ministry is the government’s responsible body for the development and regulate the housing and infrastructure of the country. Maldives Road Development Cooperation (MRDC) has been contracted to undertake the jetty and access channel construction work in B. Fulhadhoo. 2. Two freelance EIA consultants has been contracted through public bidding process to provide preparation services of an Environmental Impact Study (EIA) by (MHI) for the jetty and access channel construction work project in B. Fulhadhoo Island. 3. The assessment addresses specific key issues stated in the Terms of Reference (ToR) as agreed between EPA and the Proponent following the scoping meeting held on the matter. 4. A jetty has already been developed in the Southern side of Fulhadhoo in 2010. The existing jetty was built by the island community when the Government provided construction material harbour. The existing jetty is difficult to use during the SW Monsoon when the sea is rough and the lagoon on the western side is exposed to refracted fetch waves during the westerly monsoon period. Therefore the island is inaccessible during rough weather condition. To overcome the accessibility issues of the island community has requested the Government to develop proper island access facilities (jetty and an access) on the island. This project is implemented to develop island access and a jetty on the southern side of the island to enable an alternative island access to use during rough weather conditions. 5. The need for access for the island has been recognised by the government and proposed to develop a jetty and cut an access channel on the southern side to provide safe access for the vessels operating to and from B. Fulhadhoo Island. 6. The study investigates impacts associated with the proposed channel dredging and jetty construction of B. Fulhadhoo and areas for disposal of dredged material. The proposed access channel will have a width of 24m and a length of 624m and the entrance channel which will be cut through the reef into the atoll lagoon will lead to a small rectangular shaped dredged area (mooring basin ) 40mx40m, for vessel turning and temporary mooring purposes. The proposed mooring basin and the access channel will be dredged to maintain an average depth of -3m with respect to the MSL. A total of approximately 16660m3 of dredged material is expected to be produced. This material will be used for jetty backfill and the excess will be used for the nourishment of the beach on the northern coast of the island which at present is undergoing severe erosion. 7. Main focus this reports is to document the general baseline condition surrounding island and particularly the proposed area for channel dredging and jetty construction. The following studies have been carried out as part of this assessment. a. Assessment of the marine and coastal species and habitats in surrounding impact areas. b. Coastal processes. c. Wave and shoreline assessment study to evaluate the potential for the proposed channel dredging and jetty construction to impact adjacent shorelines. EIA for B. Fulhadhoo island access & Jetty Project | Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure | July 2017 Page 14 of 76 d. Climatic and oceanographic conditions of the project site. 8. Findings from the environmental studies are summarized as follows; a) Southern side of the island is very rough throughout the year, particularly during the onset of SW monsoon where the moored vessels on the southern side may have to be manned 24/7 during the period b) Difficult to use the existing jetty on the southern side, particularly cannot stay alongside with the jetty due to the strong wave action. c) A normal trip by a normal Dhoni from the access on the southern side will take approximately 2 hours to go from Fulhadhoo to Goidhoo and over 2.30 hour to Eydhafushi. d) Usually people travel to Goidhoo Island in small boats Dinghy’s through the deep lagoon on the southern side, during rough weather the southern side is extremely rough and cannot be used for small Dinghy’s. The alternative route for them to go to Goidhoo is through the shallow lagoon on the northern side. The northern side can be used most of the time but due to the shallowness it may become unusable at low tide. 9. With the above mentioned concerns and grievances the island community requested to shift the proposed island access channel and small mooring basin to northern side of the island 10. This EIA has been carried out on the basis that it is necessary to carry out the jetty construction and island access project in B. Fulhadhoo to facilitate socio-economic development and easy access to the island. 11. During the preparation of the EIA report an impact matrix, which is a standard tool for identifying the possible impacts of project activities, has been created for proposed development project in B. Fulhadhoo Island. The activities carried out during the construction and post-construction or operational phases are arrayed against a selection of environmental factors that may be affected directly or indirectly as a result of project activities. 12. The environmental impact assessment study shows there are two main activities that would cause minor to moderate negative environmental impacts. Those, in order of minor to moderate impact, are: 1. Channel and mooring basin dredging 2. Jetty construction and backfilling 13. Of these a long term impact would be from dredging and backfilling of jetty area and nourishment of eroded beach on the northern side of the island. Potential erosion/accretion and adjustment of the existing beach to create a new equilibrium with the surrounding environmental conditions are likely to extend to medium to long term. These impacts would be cumulative occurring over long period of time and so can be managed through proper monitoring and addressing them in a timely manner. Based on the scale of dredging and beach nourishment work projects that is taking place in Maldives, impacts associated with the proposed dredging activity is insignificant. The positive socio economic impacts from the proposed development outweigh the temporary negative impacts of dredging. 14. The study has evaluated alternative locations for the project and recommended shifting the project from the proposed location from southern side to northern side of the island. Even though there is relatively insignificant impact from this project the report has come-up with an extensive monitoring programme that will keep on monitoring coastal and marine environmental changes associated with the development to make necessary adjustment based on the findings of various measured environmental parameters suggested in the monitoring plan. 15. Therefore, on the basis of this environmental impact assessment study and the impact mitigation measures in the report will be duly implemented and recommendations are given due consideration, it is concluded that the benefits of island access development project on the selected location in northern side of in B. Fulhadhoo will substantially outweigh its imposition on the environment