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    Technical Report
    Environmental impact assessment for the proposed resort development at Kanbalifaru, Shaviyani Atoll, Maldives
    (2014-08) Sandcays
    This report addresses the environmental concerns of the proposed development of a resort on Kanbaalifaru; shaviyani Atoll. The island is about 195,709 m2 in its size. Kanbaalifaru is located close to the eastern rim of Shaviyani atoll at 6° 7'26.84"N and 73°15'18.89"E. There are no other islands within the house-reef of the island. The Proponent of the proposed development is Kanbaaalifaru Development Pvt. Ltd. The Proponent proposes to develop a medium to high end resort on Kanbaalifaru with 201 rooms, having a bed capacity of 402, which comprise of 30 x Beach Villas (2 rooms each); 50 x Ocean view villa; 18 x Family Villas (2 rooms each); 30 x Water villas and 25 x Superior water villas. In addition to these, guest facilities will include an Arrival Jetty; water villa arrival point; Reception and Admin office, a Main Restaurant; Main bar, Specialty restaurant, Spa Complex, Dive Center & Medical Clinic, Shops, Beach Bar/Coffee shops and Sports area. The proposed development will conform to all current environmental legislation including the Regulation on the Protection and Conservation of the Environment in the Tourism Industry. The main negative impact of the proposed development will be the impact of deforestation due to land clearance for proposed buildings. There may also be some degree of sedimentation due to excavation to place footings of jetties and water villa structures, which is considered minor negative. The other impacts due to environmental infrastructure such as power generation, sewage and wastewater disposal and water production are considered general impacts similar to all such developmental projects. There are no specific concerns or environmental impacts related to these. These impacts are inevitable. Yet, every effort is to be made to minimize the impact and footprint of the impact. To minimize the impact of deforestation, buildings will be designed around mature trees minimizing their removal. If a mature tree were to be removed, they will be carefully uprooted and transplanted elsewhere. It is noteworthy that there are very few mature trees in Kanbaalifaru with a few mature coconut palms. The other negative impacts of the water villas include impacts on sediment transport around the north-western side and south-western side of kanbaalifaru and some minor degree of sedimentation on the reef nearby. The impact on hydrodynamics would be minimized by placing water villas as far away from live reef areas and dynamic beach areas as possible especially on the southern end where there is a dynamic sand spit. To minimize the impact on longshore sediment transport, the walkways of water villas will stand on piles with their footings buried in the seabed. Care will also be taken to minimize sedimentation on the reef when placing water villa footings and columns. Precast footings and columns will be used and excavator movements shall be minimized. Excavator is preferably moved on barge to minimize sedimentation and if high bed excavators were to be used, they shall move as far from coral reef flat areas as possible. This impact of sedimentation will be short-lived given that tidal and wind-driven currents would normally carry the sediments away from the reef at all tides and monsoons. It is vital, therefore, to monitor the condition of the reef prior to the start of works, during the works and after the works to establish the true nature of the impact. Transplanting live corals in impacted area would be a priority. There are very few live corals in development zones, which may be impacted. The other environmental impacts of the proposed development include solid waste management, water supply, sewage disposal and energy generation. Solid waste will be generated both during the constructional and operational phase of the resort. Constructional waste will be disposed of by the Contractor to Vandhoo in Raa Atoll or Thilafushi in Kaafu Atoll. During the operational phase, a waste management center established on the island will segregate waste and dispose of them in a manner prescribed in tourism regulations. It is during the construction stage that the waste is often not managed properly and waste ends up in the environment. Therefore, it is vital that waste management procedures are in place during construction phase to ensure waste is appropriately dealt with. Supervision and awareness of construction workforce is highly recommended. Desalination, sewage treatment and power generation are fuel-dependent processes and fuel efficient desalination technology, STPs and, especially, generator sets will be installed in the island. Solar water heaters have been proposed and photovoltaic system incorporated, the costs of which have already been taken into consideration. Gravity sewers will deliver the sewage with multiple pumping stations, which will be minimized by appropriate design. Treated effluent with low levels of BOD (less than 20mg/l) will be disposed to the sea at not less than 10m below MSL and 5m away from the reef edge. Therefore, the impact from sewage disposal will be almost negligible. In fact, the daily peak flows is quite small that the proposed sea outfall would provide over 500-fold dilution to the sewage effluent even if it were raw sewage, which would occur only in the unlikely event that the sewage treatment plant fails. Hence, no further mitigation measures have been considered for sewage disposal and treatment. In order to minimize the energy-intensive nature of wastewater treatment, it has been recommended to avoid wastewater treatment and to consider direct disposal to sea or ground, if possible. Although the island is located within the atoll, the reef on the east is subjected oceanic swells from the channel between Fonadhoo and Eriyadhoo, therefore, the southeastern side or the north-northeastern side of the island is considered appropriate for disposal of raw sewage. Furthermore, due to the narrow nature of the island, the groundwater is quite saline and a proper groundwater lens is not formed, therefore, sewage and wastewater (being primarily domestic in nature) may be disposed into the ground through a septic tank system. The project encompasses clean technology and alternative energy options will be investigated with specific focus on a solar energy system. This will complement the proposed diesel generator sets. In addition, solar water heaters will be installed to provide hot water to all guest units. Also, to minimize fuel and water consumption, it is proposed to install energy and water efficient technology including faucets. The costs of these would be included in the project. Environmental monitoring has also been incorporated into the project. Arrangements for monitoring during constructional and operational phase will be considered immediately upon EIA approval. Monitoring will be undertaken according to the monitoring programme recommended in this report. Recommended monitoring for the project includes the monitoring of shoreline at predetermined and bench-marked tide levels, beach profiles and drogues at locations given in the EIA report, marine water quality at the location of the intake, brine discharge, sea outfall and a control location, air and groundwater at a location close to the powerhouse and desalination plant and a control location and quality of product water at 3 specified locations including product water tank. Fuel and water production data and clean energy initiatives may also be incorporated. Annual monitoring reports have to be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency over the monitoring period and shall include fuel and water consumption data and greenhouse gas emission calculations. The overall environmental impacts of the project have been assessed using appropriate matrices and the results indicated that the proposed project has net positive impact. Given that the project has major socio-economic benefits although there would be some negative environmental impacts, it is recommended to allow the project to proceed as proposed.
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    Environmental impact assessment for development of a city hotel at Hanimaadhoo, H.Dh. Atoll
    (2014-05) Riyaz, Mahmood; Zuhair, Mohamed
    This is the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report carried out for Island Expert Pvt. Ltd to develop and operate a three star City Hotel on the north western part of Hanimaadhoo Island located in North East of H.Dh Atoll. The proposed project includes development of 41 guest rooms and necessary infrastructure to establish and operate the city hotel. The EIA was prepared as fulfilment of the requirement by the Ministry Tourism (MoT) for granting permission for the project. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of development projects is a requirement by the Environmental Protection and Preservation Act (EPPA) (law 4/93) of the Government of the Republic of Maldives. The total cost of the proposed project is approximately 6 million USD. The project will be developed within 18 months. The project will create a relatively large number of direct and indirect employment opportunities throughout for the people of Hanimaadhoo Island and particularly to the islands on the northern part of the Maldives. Therefore the project will significantly contribute to the economic growth, particularly tourism sector, and other relevant socio-economic activities This report has been prepared in accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations published by the Ministry of Environment and Energy 2012 and covers both negative and positive environmental and socio-economic impact arising from the proposed project in Hanimaadhoo Island. This report also presents an assessment of the ongoing work at the land plot allocated for Hanimaadhoo city hotel development following a report by Hanimaadhoo council during the EIA scoping meeting that the developer has already started construction and site clearance work prior to EIA approval. Major findings of this report are based on information gathered during the field inspection of both the existing environment and possible effects of the project activities, through extensive literature review and experiences gained from similar projects elsewhere in the Maldives. The proposed project activity will take place on the north western part of Hanimaadhoo Island. The island of Hanimaadhoo is a North-south oriented island located at the Eastern rim of H.Dh Atoll. The reef system hosting Hanimaadhoo Island is an elongated shape reef, which has a length of 6.9 km and width of 1.6km. The reef flat is wider at the western side and the island occupies the eastern half of the reef. The island of Hanimaadhoo is an inhabited island with a population of 1200 people is approximately 6.5km long and 40-700m wide and the with increases towards north. Hanimaadhoo is located at latitude 6.7536o and longitude 73.1737o in North H.Dh Atoll (Figure 1). It is approximately 288 km from the capital Male’. H.Dh Hanimaadhoo is a fairly big island having approximately 155ha with thick vegetation mostly consisting of coconut palms and woody trees. The southern part of the island has been developed as a domestic airport, which was recently converted to an International Airport. Almost 50% of the land area on the southern parts occupies airport territories, hence, vegetation clearance and alteration was greatly seen. The settlement of the island is found on the mid-northern parts and is mainly concentrated on the western areas and extending towards north. Main vegetation within the area allocated for city hotel development is fairly intact with coconut palms, funa, dhigaa, hirundhu and small amounts of nika and dhonkeyo as the main cover within the area, which makes up over 50% of the vegetation cover. Most of the vegetation found on the site is fairly young with magoo, uni as well as funa, hirundhu and dhigga. The cover of young vegetation found on the site exceeds 20%. Other types of vegetation that are sparsely distributed on the site include kaani, boashi, kashikeyo, dhonkeyo, and midhili are found in a very small content. It was observed that the vegetation of the site has been greatly altered or to a great extent used by the local communities probably for collection of fire wood, wood and timber as well as for undertaking agriculture in small areas. The reef on the NW side of Hanimaadhoo is characterized by a large reef flat having approximately 50-70m in the width and a very large lagoon having approximately 290-310m in the width. The average depth of the reef flat is about 1m and the lagoon is about 1.5m. The reef crest is found at a depth of about 2-2.5m. The reef slope is observed to be slanted with the upper portion having the most live coral, while the lower portion (below 10-15m) are mostly covered with dead corals, sand and aged rocks. The live coral cover was generally low except for the upper reef slope where the live coral percentage estimated was 12%. The reef flat and the reef crest had 4% and 6% live coral cover respectively. Based on the ground water analysis ground water of Hanimaadhoo city hotel development site is safe to use for all purposes. At present drinking water is transported from Kulhudhuffushi and supplemented by the rainwater catchments. 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 Hanimaadhoo 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. The report has identified and described in detail possible change that would occur to the existing condition of the environment caused during the construction phase and have suggested appropriate mitigation measures for each and every impact identified in the report. Vegetation clearance has been identified as the most significant negative environmental impact that could be associated with the vegetation clearance. Liquid, solid and other forms of wastes and particularly hazardous waste generated during the construction and operational phase has also been identified as significant impact associated with the project and appropriate mitigation measures are suggested for each and every waste related impact identified in the study. The study has evaluated alternative options for some components of the project and has suggested some modifications for city hotel layout and landscaping. Also the report found, based on the similar project activities elsewhere in the Maldives, the island and the reef will recover from the expected impacts rapidly and will re-establish a new ecological balance soon. However the report has come-up with an extensive monitoring programme that will keep on monitoring the environmental changes associated with the development and make necessary adjustment to the activities of the project based on the findings of various measured environmental parameters suggested in the monitoring plan. The report has identified the following beneficial effects form city hotel development in Hanimaadhoo:  Increased direct employment and training opportunities;  Improvements in environmental quality of the island;  Stimulation of local economy, cultivation and small business opportunities within the nearby island communities; and  Increased government revenue and increased GDP. The report found no evidence that the city hotel development in Hanimaadhoo requires or involves any of the following environmental or socio-economic impacts.  loss of unique habitat or wilderness areas;  resettling of local communities;  removing or destroying cultural properties;  contravening national government of the Republic of Maldives, or island community policies, regulations, criteria, customs or aspirations concerning environment, economy, employment, cultural traditions or life styles. On the basis this environmental impact assessment study and the impact mitigation measures proposed in the report will be duly implemented and recommendations are given due consideration, it is concluded that the benefits of the planned city hotel development in Hanimaadhoo Island will substantially outweigh its imposition on the environment.
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    Environmental impact assessment for extension of Kooddoo Domestic Airport and development of a city hotel Kooddoo, GA. Atoll
    (2013-12) Adam, M. Shiham; Riyaz, Mahmood
    1. The domestic airport of Kooddoo was built during 2011 and was officially opened in 2011. This 1,200 m long airstrip in the north eastern side of the Ga Atoll serving the emerging high-end resorts have become one of the busiest and most important domestic airports in the south. It is normal to have 7-8 flights per day with mostly tourist passengers arriving and departing. Also relatively large volume local passengers make use of the route for transferring to the islands in the south or simply commuting on business trips. It was also noticed that guests with reputable business credentials were requesting to resort operators to allow their own air-craft (jet) to fly Kooddoo direct rather than having inconvenient and long layover times at Hulhule Ibrahim Nasir International Airport. 2. In order to address this need the Ministry of Tourism (previously Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture) engaged with the Maldives Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Transport and Communication in a development project to extend the airstrip and also to upgrade and modernize the airport to provide services to international standards. Keong Hong Construction Pte Ltd, a reputable property developer in the region, won the airport development contract through competitive bidding tendered by the Ministry of Tourism. The negotiated contract agreement included development of a 50-room city hotel on Kooddoo and also development of Ga. Maamutaa as an upper-class tourist resort. Under the same agreement the Kooddoo airport will also be managed by Keong Hong Construction Pte Ltd, who now has an Aerodrome Certificate to run the airport under their name 3. Following the new Regulation on Reclamation and Dredging of Islands Lagoon and Reefs a permit for dredging and reclamation work was obtained before the scoping of the project took place. As such all paper works, including the dredging and reclamation permit was submitted for the Scoping Meeting held at EPA and was attended by stakeholders. 4. The scope of this development project is to reclaim about 260 m long and 150 m wide area from both ends of the island to extend the runway to 1,800 m, to dredge and create 500 m long entrance channel from the western corner of the reef connected to a harbour basin with access walkway jetty. The scope also includes the complete development works of the 50-room city hotel including upgrading of airport services and equipment following the expansion airport capacity. The most significant development activity with regards environmental change is the dredging of western side, reclamation of the both ends and development 25 over-water bungalows on the shallow lagoon on the western side. 5. Existing environmental conditions have been revised using the comprehensive set of baseline data gathered for the airport development project in 2011 but supplemented by additional field data gathered during the visit made in late November 2013. These have been used to assess and evaluate the environmental impacts from development activities. For activities with potential to cause significant impacts, appropriate and practical mitigation measures have been proposed. 6. Since management of Kooddoo airport is now under Keong Hong Construction Pte Ltd the plan is to upgrade and expand the utility services (production of water, generation of electrify and overhauling of sewerage system) to meet the additional requirements of the proposed city hotel. As such the developer plans to add on to the existing structures and arrangements as much as possible to cut down development costs and improve efficiency. 7. The developer pans to increase current water production capacity of 150 cubic meters per day to 450 cubic meters per day. This would involve installing and commissioning of 2 x 150 cubic meters day capacity RO plants. Electricity generation will be increased from its current capacity of 250kVA to 3110 kVA by adding 2x800 kVA units and 2x630 kVA units. The current septic sewerage system will be overhauled to modern Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) plant with a capacity to treat 200 cubic meters of sewage water per day The outflow water will have negligible amount of coliforms and so will be used for watering the plants and landscaping work. 8. Installation and commissioning of electricity generation and water production system will be done as per guidelines of the Maldives Energy Authority and Environmental Protection Agency respectively. Similarly, to ensure safety, drilling of boreholes for source water for RO plant and construction of 150,000 liters of fuel storage, and 20,000 liters of petrol will be stored in bunded areas. Environmental issues arising from these developments have been identified and practical mitigation measures have been proposed. It has been recommend that water production system and power generation system should be registered with the authorities before the its full commissioning. 9. Reclamation works and extension of runway will take place whilst the airport is in operation. In order to avoid disruption of flight schedules it is advised the developer/contractor provide method statements, including details on plans and schedule of activities that should be agreed in consultation with the Civil Aviation Authority. Coordination should be maintained at all times between the Air-traffic control tower and developer/contractor. Fortunately since the developer and airport management is the same company it is envisaged that there should not be any problems for this coordination. 10. The estimated volume of material recovered from dredging /excavation works is around 70,000 cubic meters. However, the estimated volume required for reclamation is estimated at 120,000 cubic meters. Alternative borrow areas have been identified to make up for this short fall. The issues were discussed at the Scoping Meeting and it was agreed that area on the south eastern side where the reef-flat is widest may be identified as a potential borrow area. Climate condition and orientation of the Kooddoo reef is such that lagoon often times becomes rough, thus prohibitive safe entry. As such hard structures (breakwaters) have been proposed for the channel and the harbor basin. 11. The proposed reclamation work on either end of the island extends close to the reef edge, creating the possibility of blocking the water exchange from the eastern and western side. It was noted that this may cause disruption of the established longshore drifts flow around the island creating areas of pockets of erosion and accretion. Since it will be difficult to predict such changes, appropriate environmental monitoring have been proposed. The developer/operator is encouraged to follow the monitoring programme and report to the authorities on a regular basis. Environmental monitoring allows detecting environmental change so that appropriate remedial action may be taken or addressed in a timely manner. 12. A Leopold Matrix has been used to classify the magnitude and importance of possible impacts which may arise during the constructional and operational phase of the project. Leopold Matrix is the most widely used methodology for identifying the impact of a project on the environment. It is a two dimensional matrix which cross references between the activities which are foreseen to have potential impacts on the environment and the existing conditions (environmental and social) which could be affected. It was concluded that the short term minor to moderate impacts as identified above outweigh the medium to long term socio-economic benefits to the region, to the tourism sector and to the country in general. 13. Since the Kooddoo Island is going to have three distinct business entities, namely Kooddoo Fisheries Maldives Ltd, Kooddoo Airport, and the Kooddoo City Hotel, the EIA report includes, an officially approved boundary demarcations in Annex 3.