Environmental impact assessment : for the construction of a harbour in Vashafaru island, Haa Alif Atoll, Maldives

Abstract

This report discusses the findings of a social and environmental impact study undertaken by Water Solutions Pvt. Ltd. upon request from Ministry of Housing. The project involves construction of a harbour in the island of Vasahafaru in, Haa Alif Atoll. Until now, the island has not been blessed with a harbour and is one of the most crucial issues faced by the island community. This project is initiated by the government of Maldives as part of its national programme to provide safe harbours to each and every inhabited island in Maldives. Presently, the lack of a harbour is not only the biggest obstacles faced by the islanders, but the reason why the economic growth of the island is not expanding and diversified. Lack of a harbour has many development obstacles for islands and similarly, Vashafaru is also faced with similar dilemma. At present, the islanders use a small jetty on the western side where the geographical formation of the reef and the lagoon does not favour ideal conditions during most part of the year. In rough weather, the western side gets very rough resulting in difficulties utilizing this side for mooring and loading and unloading of people and goods become almost impossible. The proposed project is therefore geared towards developing a third generation harbour on the southern side of the island with an entrance channel and breakwaters to protect the harbour basin. This harbour is expected to ease many of the challenges faced by the islanders, especially for the vessel owners, as safe mooring will be guaranteed. A detail environmental and social assessment was undertaken for this project and the findings are reported in this EIA. This EIA has been prepared to assess the social and environmental impacts of this proposed rehabilitation project. As this is a completely new development, significant negative impacts on the marine environment will be felt through permanent habited modification and direct destruction of the marine environment. Similarly, the coral reef will also be directly and indirectly impacted from this project. At the same time, the socio-economic impacts of the project will be significantly felt on a very larger group, and not necessarily the islanders only. In such projects, environmental damage cannot be avoided and hence the goal should be to undertake the works in the most least damaging manner. As a large area of the marine environment will be affected, careful implementation of mitigation measures and adopting methods which minimizes damage will be key for this project. Most of these measures are best practice guidelines and protocols that does not require a lot of money to implement. In view of the assessment, the environmental damages to marine resources have been considered significant due to the nature of the project. The impacts are likely to be felt on an estimated 8% of the reef, mostly along the southern side of the reef system. These environmental impacts were assessed for both construction and operation phase of the project and the majority of the negative impacts will be felt during the construction stage. However significant these negative impacts are, they cannot be compared with the socioeconomic benefits gained by developing the harbour. As a result, a comprehensive monitoring component has been suggested which takes in to consideration, the most important elements that require regular monitoring such as the changes to the sediment movement around the island. This monitoring component will be adhered and will allow the assessment of long term changes resulting from the project. One of the important monitoring aspects will be the socioeconomic impacts. Stakeholder consultations were held with various groups, including the island council and the client in order to incorporate the socio-economic components in the project. Stakeholders, most importantly the island community represented by the Island council was the most significant as they have the maximum knowledge and experience from the daily difficulties faced due to lack of a harbour. Apart from this, the council receives complains from boat owners and others on a daily basis with regard to this. The development of the harbour in Vashafaru will have significant environmental impacts to the island, most of which will be felt on the coastal and the marine environment. The project takes place in an environment that has been not been modified or damaged significantly. Therefore, environmental impacts are going to be major. However, the social impacts of this project will be significant and will benefit the community as well as other the region. Therefore, despite the negative environmental impacts, it is justifiable to undertake this project