First addendum to the EIA report for the proposed coastal protection project at Villimale, North Male’ Atoll, Maldives

Abstract

This report addresses environmental concerns of the proposed change to shore-protection measures for Villingilli western coast. The initial proposal had a rock boulder revetment at the western side of the island. However, due to distance between reef edge and proposed revetment, a section of this revetment could not be implemented. The proponent therefore proposes this section of revetment to be constructed using concrete T- Unit Blocks. The total length of proposed revetment is 255m; currently 200m of the revetment is constructed using rock boulders; 55m of the remaining revetment is proposed to be constructed using T-Blocks. As the only proposed change is material used for revetment, there is little change to impacts predicted during the initial EIA process. The most significant of which is change to local wave and current regime due to relatively less energy absorption by the T- Unit blocks and change to wave dispersion mechanism. Compared to initially proposed rock boulders, T-Unit blocks reflect waves more and may therefore induce turbulence; however, construction of rockboulder revetments require more space for base. The proposed location for revetment construction is very close to reef edge and a section of proposed revetment could not be implemented due to absence of enough space for rockboulder revetment base. As identified in the EIA process, during construction of the revetment, there will be some degree of sedimentation in the area. However, due to strong currents and small amount of excavation required, sedimentation is not expected to cause significant environmental loss. Due to limited negative impacts predicted for the proposed change in revetment, no major mitigation measures were identified. However, it is strongly recommended to adhere to mitigation measures proposed in initial EIA.