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Item Environmental impact assessment for extension of Kooddoo Domestic Airport and development of a city hotel Kooddoo, GA. Atoll(2013-12) Adam, M. Shiham; Riyaz, Mahmood1. 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.Item Environmental impact assessment for beach nourishment and maintenance dredging of access channels and harbour in Thulhaagiri Island(2014-01) Adam, M. Shiham; Riyaz, Mahmood1. Thulhaagiri is a small round island in the central North Malé Atoll. Located just north of Bandos Island resort, the island may be considered one of the oldest resorts in the Maldives, now operating for over 25 years. Currently in full operation, the resort has 52 beach bungalows and 34 over-water bungalows equipped with modern facilities and amenities. The current management of the resort is Angiri Resorts and Management Operation Pvt Ltd, which have been operating the resort for close to 15 years. 2. Owing to its somewhat isolated location in the centre of a large atoll basin, the island is exposed to wind driven waves from eastern and western side of the reef. Consequently the operators have been using two sides of the island for entry into the reef. During the SW monsoons season when winds are blowing from west the eastern entry is used and during north NE Monsoon when the winds are blowing from East and northwest the entry on the western side is used. 3. The inner reef flat used as a harbour sheltered by the well-developed reef crest. The area is shallow, but over time the reef flat becomes shallower due to deposition of sand. In order to maintain the depth at safer levels for the speedboats and vessels, a small pump is used to dredge the areas that get shallower. This has been the practice the resort operators. 4. The objective of the proposed project is to undertake maintenance dredging of the channels on the eastern and western side of the island and to deepen the reef flat area that is being used as harbour. And finally it is proposed to make use of the dredged sand to nourish the receding beaches on the north eastern side of the island. 5. The project activity is justified since these regular pumping and deepening of the channels and reef flat is inconvenient and hinders the smooth operation of the resort. During bad weather entry into the Thulhaagiri is dangerous and risky. There is also a need to rebuild the lost beach on the north-eastern side of the island, now felt necessary by the operators to maintain Thulhaagiri’s market position. 6. Following the recently established regulation on dredging and reclamation of the islands and lagoons, a permit was first obtained for the proposed reclamation and dredging followed by the scoping of the environmental impact assessment of these activities. This EIA is follows the Terms of Reference developed and agreed at the scoping meeting. 7. Dredging will be carried out by using a dredger mounted on a flat-top shallow-draft barge. A temporary sand bed may be constructed on the excavations area. Sand required for the construction of the bed will be obtained by excavation from the adjacent shallow areas. 8. Excavated material deposited on the barge will be transported and deposited on the beach identified for extending where it will be sieved. The coarse material will be deposited first for filling and extending the area followed the finer material on top. Temporary measures will be taken to avoid the sediment washing into the lagoon. Nourished beach will then be levelled using excavators, loaders or manually by the labourers. 9. It has been proposed that timing of this activity should be restricted to February and March, which is the transition period from northeast to southwest monsoon. Wind frequency and magnitude during the period is on the lower side. 10. The total time taken for this activity is estimated at 30 days following approval (or issuing of decision note) following successful evaluation of this report. The key mitigation measures other then timing is that limit dredging activity at lower or slack tide as much as possible. 11. The proponent has provided a commitment letter confirming accepting and confirming their responsibility on mitigation measures suggested in the report and environmental compliance during this undertaking of the proposed activities.Item Environmental impact assessment for the proposed agriculture project on Dhandhoo, Baa. Atoll(2013-03) Adam, M. Shiham; Riyaz, MahmoodBaa Atoll Hanifaru was leased in 2008 to Mr. Mohamed Shareef of Maafannu Sunny Coast to develop agricultural activities. Following Environmental Regulation, an EIA Screening Form was submitted to EPA during early 2009. However, after elapse of some considerable period, the erstwhile Ministry of Housing and Environment declared Hanifaru Bay (lagoon) as a protected site under environmental law. Later Hanifaru was also declared as a protected site. In order compensate for this unexpected ‘taking away’ of Hanifaru, the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, in consultation with Mr. Mohamed Shareef, arranged an alternative island – Baa Dhandhoo. The proposal under consideration is to develop Baa Atoll Dhandhoo as an agricultural island along with three other minor functions. The primary business model is based on production of high quality agricultural products. The island would also be a facility providing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services. To complement this function a small nursery of about 4,000 sq feet is proposed to grow indigenous medicinal plants that are becoming rare/extinct. Finally a small visitor centre is proposed which would allow visitors to learn about the activities on the island. Two main approaches − the AutoPot and hydroponics systems − are proposed for the production of rock-melon, cucumber, capsicum, chillies, lettuce, tomatoes etc. The growth system is completely contained either in the grow pots or in water medium. The main development feature of the island is 6 x 4,000 sq feet green houses to set up the AutoPot and hydroponics system. The green houses will be imported and assembled at site. Similarly the AutoPot system will be imported and assembled at site. The hydroponics system will be constructed locally from the imported material. Construction of the buildings will be kept to a minimum; staff accommodation, kitchen / dining facilities will be constructed to accommodate no more than 15 people for the agricultural works. Treatment rooms for CAM treatments will be built on the northern side of the island. A small stilt-jetty is constructed on the western side of the island. A complete list of the buildings is given in the layout plan. The island would be self-contained, and so water production and power generation will take place on the island. An RO plant of 10 cubic meters / day capacity is proposed with intake from the lagoon. To supplement the water production rainwater will be harvested from every possible roof on the island. A 25kW diesel power generator will installed for producing electricity. Storage of diesel on the island will be minimal transporting the required amounts from the nearby islands. The baseline environmental conditions were assessed using standard methods. Significant erosion was observed on the north-western and northern side of the island while accretion was evident on the western side. There appears to be a directional shift of the island to west. However, observation of such magnitude of movement has entirely due to seasonal erosion and accretions have been observed in some islands of Baa Atoll. No interventions for mitigating erosion were proposed at this stage. Biannual monitoring of shoreline was proposed to determine the seasonal dynamics of the island beach. No hard structures are proposed at this stage. A Leopold Matrix was used to determine the scale and extent of the impacts. The short-term environmental impact from this development project would to the island ecosystem from clearance of vegetation. About 60-80 palms may have to remove and/or relocated for the development work that will be replaced accordingly. Loss of top-soil, and shade and the clearance may affect the vegetation around the periphery. It is recommended that clearance take place only where necessary. Septic tanks systems have been proposed for disposing human waste and pose no long-term negative environmental impact considering the small number of people expected to be based on the island. It is recommended that non-biodegradables should be regularly removed from the island for disposal in to another island with arrangement made with the Council. Biodegradable waste from the plant material will be left to appropriately degrade on the island, thereby contributing nutrients pool of the island ecosystem. The Atoll Council and the resorts were consulted regarding the project and their views were considered. There was full support of the Council and no issues were highlighted. There were also no issues raised from the resorts except they wished see only minimal landscape Impacts during the operation phase are considered to be negligible. Overall the impact from the Project will be positive – demonstration of effective economic and sustainable use of uninhabited small islands inducing encouragement for climatesmart type agriculture.Item Environmental impact assessment for the development of a domestic airport on Kooddoo, GA. Atoll(2011-10) Adam, M. Shiham1. Kooddoo Island is located on the eastern boarder of Huvadhoo Atoll, Ga. Atoll, just south of Villingili. The island has a fresh tuna collection, freezing and storage facility owned by the state-owned enterprise – Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company Ltd (MIFCO). MIFCO was re-structured early 2011 and the Kooddoo operation was made a separate business entity under the name of Kooddoo Fisheries Maldives Private Ltd. 2. Plans for development of a domestic airport in Gaafu Alifu (GA) Atoll have been a government priority for some time. The initial plan was to have the airport on GA Villingili. A large area of the Villingili on the north eastern side was reclaimed in 2005 to provide land for housing and infrastructure developments. However, the size and shape of the reclaimed area was found to be not sufficient or appropriate for the 1200 x 30 m long aerodrome required for the domestic flights. Additional land has to be reclaimed if the airport is to be constructed on Villingili as planned, costing additional financial resources to be allocated. 3. Two uninhabited islands in region are being developed as tourist resorts and one of them - Falhumaafushi Resort - is now close to completion. Falhumaafushi Resort is expected to be officially open in early 2012. The construction of the second island Dhigurah is expected to the start very soon. These islands were tendered and developed in the hope the domestic airport on Villingili will be operational by the time of their opening. The need for a domestic airport for guest transfer is now essential to make the resorts economically viable as originally expected. 4. In order to fast tract the development of the domestic airport, the National Planning Council (NPC) in consultation with the major stakeholders in the region (i.e., Atoll and Island Councils, Members of Parliament and the Regional Administrative Offices) decided that a best possible and practical option is to have the airport on Kooddoo. 5. The developer of the airport is Bonvavista (Maldives) Private Limited, a property developer and resort owner based in Singapore. The agreement has been that the developer gets the GA. Dhigurah Island (not far from Kooddoo) for long term lease including some concession in rent for some initial period in return for the investment costs of domestic airport on Kooddoo Island. The contractor for the project is Keong Hong Construction Private Limited of Singapore. 6. At the scoping meeting the developer requested that EIA be submitted in two parts; the first one focusing only on the initial deployment of machinery, labourers and the clearance of the area required for the development. It was agreed that the second and complete EIA be submitted within the validity of the ToR (see Annex 1) and before the construction work begins. This first report therefore focused only on the initial mobilization and clearance of vegetation. The report is approved and the Decision Note issued (see Annex 2). 7. The surveys required for the EIA has been undertaken on 4-10 September 2011. Two separate trees surveys were done; one by total enumeration on randomly selected 4 x 100 x 100 m plots and the other by image analysis using a high resolution satellite imagery combined with ground truthed data undertaken as a separated survey at the same period. 8. The satellite image was classified to nine categories; “agricultural crops”, “bush vegetation”, “coastal bush vegetation”, “coconut grove”, “developed area”, “mixed woody vegetation”, “modified woody vegetation” and “open area and strand vegetation”. Highest cover was found to be in Mixed Vegetation type which through ground truth surveys were found to be Midhili, Uni and Kandhu1 and some few palm trees. For each category a range of number of trees were provide. Image analysis estimated that number of coconut trees would be in the range of 3,600 – 5,800. 9. The enumerated survey assumed that density and distribution of trees are same across the entire island. Furthermore it also assumes the random quadtrats (4 in nos.) are also representative of the floral composition of the island and their location does not create additional biases. While sound in theory in practice it may not be. The result of this simple averaging method was found to be quite different from results of the image analysis. While also acknowledging biases in the image analysis the true numbers of major trees type would probably in the range the values estimated. 10. All mature trees and coconut palms will be uprooted under the guidance and supervision to ensure that trees are in good condition for transport and replanting. The developer has identified five main potential islands; Villingili, Falhumaafushi, Vilivaru, and the newly reclaimed island of Gulhifalhu, where trees will be transported. Separate arrangement will be made by the contractor to ensure the safe transport and re-planting of tree in those islands. Experience elsewhere shows that replanted trees survive well provided that watering and enough care is given in the initial stages, particularly in uprooting and transporting. A target survival rate has been estimated at 70% and means to ensure this would be monitoring and reporting. 11. Surveys and assessment show the deployment of heavy equipment and machinery will be problematic. It was found to be almost impossible to use lifting equipment to unload the heavy machinery from barges over the quay wall. Following procedures practiced in similar projects in the Maldives, it was suggested to create a temporary landing site north of the island. An entrance to the reef already exists there but the area requires scrapping ~0.3 - 0.4 m off the substrate close to the beach area to allow flat-topped barges to move close to the beach. 12. Land and soil survey of Kooddoo showed presence of loose humus soil up to the water table at 1.4 - 1.5 m. This result was the same in locations surveyed. Laying out the air-field require two compacted aggregate base layers before the porous asphalt layer can be laid on top. These are 0.35 m thick compacted base-layer and 0.15m thick crushed aggregate course on top of the base-layer. These two layers require about 20,000m3 aggregate materials which will be sourced from local house reef. Exploring of alternatives suggests the most practical and cost-effective way to obtain the material is by dredging the house-reef. An area of about 300m x 70m x 1m on the eastern side of the reef flat will be dredged to source the required material. In all earlier airport construction projects the base layer material has been sourced from the local reef. 13. Overall the significant negative environmental impacts of the development project were found to be three; i) sourcing fill material from local reef, ii) clearance over 40% of Kooddoo area off vegetation and iii) creation of a temporary landing site for unloading/loading of construction equipment. Dredging reef flat may have immediate to medium term impacts that could potentially cause unintended erosion / accretion of the island. But shore-stabilization structures are not proposed at this stage. It was noted that significant areas of north eastern reef of Villingili was also dredged which may have potential long term impacts to the region including Kooddoo reef flat. Post- development monitoring will help to better understand the impacts to Kooddoo and provide reasonable time frame to address any remedial or mitigation measure that wil have to be implemented in a timely manner. 14. Vegetation clearance will have direct loss of habitats and potential agricultural land. Both are important in the context of the green and carbon neutral concept. However, in the long term, the construction and operation of the airport outweighs any potential of loss of ecological habitat and agricultural land. In summary significant negative impacts include loss of top soil, potential degradation of ground water quality, loss of significant area of vegetation and potential death of the significant number of trees and likely shift of ecological regime of the island in the medium to long term. Positive impacts include opportunities for economic growth and development of the region, the local aviation industry and further increase of tourism potential in GA and neighbouring area. 15. Alternatives have been proposed for project activities only. The decision to have the airport on Kooddoo is an executive high level government decision which may supersedes findings of the assessment on suitability of the site. Areas of potential impacts have been clearly identified and ways of mitigation have been suggested. The developer and contractor are fully aware of these issues and are committed to be responsible for implementing these measures during the construction of the airport and its facilities. 16. The operational arrangement of airport is not yet clear. It is envisaged that some of the services of Kooddoo Fisheries Maldives Pvt Ltd will be used for the management and day-to-day running of the airport. In this case separate arrangements will have to be made by the airport operator and the Kooddoo Fisheries Maldives. 17. Additional land surveys for levelling the air field and specification of the construction are being sought by professionals in the field. +++