Academic Articles -- ޢިލްމީ ލިޔުންތަކުގެ ޖަމާ
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Item Environmental impact assessment report for development of breakwater at GA. Kandhuhulhudhoo(2013-02) Energy ConsultancyThe island of Kanduhulhudhoo is the most the south island of G.A atoll, located approximately at 0° 21’ 05.21’’ N and 73° 32’ 21.75’’ E. The 31ha Island has a population of 874. From the observation carried out at the island, it was found a major part of the beach has been eroded and precautions need to be taken to stop further erosion. In some places the erosion has reach as far as beyond the vegetation line, and in some areas, the beach rock can be found. In this project there will be a small amount of dredging to deepen the harbor basin and the clearance of the existing breakwater. From the community consultation it was suggested to transfer this dredge material and rubbles to be relocated to an eroded site for the prevention of further erosion. The major impact in this project lies in the marine basin. At the completion of this project some of the marine topographic features would be lost due to the dredging and the construction of the breakwater. This impact is identified as a permanent or long term irreversible damage. In order to minimize the damage, the zones where the activities takes place needed to be clearly marked and the various activities needed to be restricted to these zones. The sedimentation deposit during the construction phase is identified to be reversible and a short term impact. This impact could be minimized by undertaking various activities during low tide. During the construction phase the contractor should be careful on handling machineries. Pollutions such as oil spill have to be avoided during the mobilization, construction and demobilization phase. The safety of the workers shall be the first and foremost priority of the contractor. The proponent has an obligation of monitoring the environment during both construction and operational phaseItem Initial environmental examination (IEE) for beach nourishment at Angsana Resort and Spa, Velavaru, Dhaalu Atoll(2011-09) SandcaysThis report addresses the environmental concerns of the proposed beach nourishment in Angsana Maldives Velavaru Resort and Spa, Dhaalu Atoll. The primary objective of the project is to recover eroded beach by pumping sand from already excavated areas nearshore from the nearby deep lagoon. The project encompasses sand pumping using a 6 or 8 inch sand pump mounted on a barge. The borrow sites for the proposed beach nourishment will be in the western lagoon. The beach on the eastern shoreline of Velavaru has been severely eroded currently due to lack of any shore protection measures. Previously, the beach has been maintained through regular beach nourishment by pumping sand from the deep lagoon. However, this activity has been stopped by the Tourism Ministry recently as beach nourishment is an activity that requires environmental clearance as per the EIA Regulations of the Maldives. Due to the critical nature of the on-going erosion and since a well maintained beach is one of the main elements of the tourism product of the Maldives, the Environmental Protection Agency has given the authorisation for beach nourishment works to commence after investigating the existing environment and potential impact from the works in an Initial Environmental Examination. This Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) has been carried out in order to get clearance for the nourishment of the beaches of Velavaru. Sand pumping from nearshore locations has the potential to aggravate erosion as the borrow pits can become sediment sinks over a considerable period of time. If borrow areas are too close to the shore, the impact on the island shoreline and the erosion of the nourished beaches would be quite rapid. Therefore, it is recommended to keep the borrow areas as far as possible from the beach. This IEE will locate the best possible borrow area for the beach nourishment works while also providing an alternative location. One of the potential impacts would be the possible growth hindered patch corals within the lagoon. However, there are no coral patches within the lagoon in Velavaru which may be affected by the proposed beach nourishment activity. Given that biological resources are not directly affected, aesthetic concerns are of importance in the proposed project. Therefore, in order to maintain the aesthetic value of the beach and enhance the socio-economic benefits of the proposed project, it is important that immediate beach nourishment is undertaken. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that all environmental concerns of future shore protection or beach enhancement activities are clearly established so as to minimize environmental impacts of such activities.Item Environmental impact assessment for the extension of service jetty, Malé Aerated Water Company, MAWC, Thulushdhoo – K. Malé(2010-04) Adam, M. S.; Naseer, A.1. Malé Aerated Water Company is first to establish a bottling plant in the Maldives. Under the franchise agreement between Coca Cola® their bottling plant became operational in 1998. The plant is located in K. Thulusdhoo, North Malé Atoll on rented land from Government. Recently the volume of the production has increased and as a result the frequency and volume of the material that comes and goes from the plant has increased tremendously. The existing service jetty is small and is not designed to serve more than one boat at time. Presently MAWC uses shallow –draft barges for supply of its products to Malé. The amount of space on the quay wall is extremely limited and requires extending the present service jetty. 2. This EIA is related to the proposal for extension of the MAWC service jetty. MAWC has acquired 745 sq m (58 m beach line) of land adjacent to the existing service jetty. The land is leased for a period of the 10 years. The lease agreement was signed on 20 July 2009 between K. Atoll Office and MAWC. 3. It is proposed to construct a jetty quay-wall along the 58 m long beach line. Three options for construction of the quay wall were considered; concreted bags, placing pre fabricated concreted T-block (available from the newly formed Works Cooperation) and proper metal sheet piling. The developer has opted to use the concrete T-blocks to construct the quay wall. 4. Starting from the Customs Jetty to the existing MAWC jetty steel reinforced concreted T-blocks will be placed to ‘sheet-pile’ the place. The back will be filled with dredged material taken from the surrounding areas. A total of the 2,500 cubic meters of material will be required to fill the place and level the ground. 5. The material will be removed from the adjacent area. The area is shallow about -0.5m. The basin requires deepening to about -2.0 m. The required volume of material is not significant to have any noticeable impact to the area. Sedimentation is unavoidable during dredging works. But similar to many such projects, even in much larger projects involving dredging lasting weeks, the sediment plume is dispersed to negligible level almost immediately (2-3 days) when the dredging stops. 6. The construction works of this project will be contracted to professional contractors and the developer will ensure environmental standards are maintained, including the recommendation and mitigation measures identified in the EIA. The project is expected to complete in 3 months. 7. Stake holder consultations have been undertaken since 2006. The consultant also met the Island Chief and the Island Councilor. They have re-iterated the decision of the Island Committee and the implementation of the agreement made between the K. Atoll Office and MAWC 8. Under MAWC corporate social responsibility programme it has been proposed that northern section of the quay wall is to be used by the community especially the fishermen. At present there only the official jetty 9. It is proposed to monitor the beach in the northern north of the island for a period of 12 months following the proposed extension of the jetty. Beach width should be taken at 10 points along the beach every month. Depth measurements will need to be measured along the quay wall from MAWC jetty to the Customs jetty at 6 points replicating the baseline depth measurements collected as part of this assessment.Item Environmental impact assessment for development of a slipway at Raa. Vandhoo(2011) Mohamed, MiruzaThis EIA report is prepared in accordance with Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2007 under the Environmental Protection and Preservation Act (Act No. 4/93). The purpose of this EIA is to fulfill the requirement of the Law and to conduct an assessment of possible impacts on ecological, biophysical and human environment arising from proposed development project of Slipway Development in Vandhoo in Raa Atoll, Maldives. The project is proposed by Mr. Mohamed Ali Fulhu (Naares, ID card number A‐092574, Mobile: +9607784393) a successful businessman from the island of R. Innamaadhoo. The main construction activities of the proposed project involve development of a slipway and its associated infrastructures to accommodate working staff at Vandhoo. These include dredging a small basin and an entrance channel, construction of a small accommodation facility for 15 staff. All these development activities will be carried out at the land and sea area leased to the developer by the Government authorities. The allocated area is on the southeastern side of the island. The construction activities will be completed within six months from the start of the construction phase. The project cost is estimated as Maldivian Rufiyaa 11,383,300/00. The proposed slipway is 300ft long and 200ft wide. The slipway will be attached to the coast of the island and consisted of concrete flooring at the lagoon area which is sloped to facilitate beaching of vessels. A narrow entrance channel of about 18m wide will be dredged to make access to the slipway possible. The main operation of the project will be boat building and repair operations. This will include boats of all types and sizes that are below 140 feet in overall length. Baseline environmental conditions at the project site indicated that the coral cover around the slipway basin area was low (about 2%). The coastal vegetation around the proposed slipway area was mainly kaani, ruh, boashi, hirundhu and dhiggaa, and does not represent any specific preservation value. Need and justification of the project Vandhoo is on the eastern rim of geographic Raa Atoll. The island is uninhabited and remained as an agricultural island for the residents of near by island. There is no safe access to the island. Many people of R. Innamaadhoo and R. Rasmaadhoo would like to use the island as a site for boat building. To date most of the boat building of these two islands is being carried out within these small inhabited islands triggering health and other social problems. It is important to note that a school is also located adjacent to the boatbuilding area of Innamaadhoo causing disturbances. Hence it is very important to relocate the boatbuilding activities to an area away from human settlement. For this purpose no land is available at Innamaadhoo. The Cabinet has also decided to lease a part of land from R. Vandhoo for the development of a slipway on its meeting at 31st August 2010 (Ref 2010‐651 Press Release, The President’s Office). Thus the project is in conformity with the policies and strategies of the government. This project is also vital to reduce the impact of health hazards associated with boat building in Innamaadhoo.Item Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed development of ekulhivaru, Noonu Atoll, as a premium tourist resort(2010-04-01) Adam, M. S.; Naseer, A.The purpose of this EIA is to fulfill the obligations of the proponent to undertake EIA under Clause 5 of the Environmental Protection and Preservation Act (Law # 4/93) of the Maldives and the requirements of Maldives Tourism Regulation. This EIA establishes the current state of the existing environment where the development takes place. All the activities of the development and operation are evaluated for their environmental impacts, positive or negative. Corrective and remedial measures are suggested on how to reverse or improve the predicted impacts and maintain the overall quality of the environment. Ekulhivaru is located in Noonu Atoll about 10‐12 km west of inhabited islands of Hembadhoo and Kendhikulhudhoo and 22 km east from Holhudhoo. Closest tourist resorts to Ekulhivaru are Dholhiyadhoo in Shaviyani Atoll, to the north and Kudafunafaru in Noonu Atoll to the south. Both are resorts in the development stage. Ekulhivaru has been leased to MTDC for developing a tourist resort. MTDC is developing the island in partnership with The Ritz Carlton and Berjaya Corporation Berhad, Malaysia. The objective of the project is to develop the island of Ekulhivaru as a premier high end tourist resort – The Ritz‐Carlton Reserve. The main features of the built environment are 55 beach villas around the periphery of the island and 35 overwater villas, built in three clusters, on the shallow sandy lagoon. In addition specialty restaurants, spa with treatment rooms and full back‐of‐the house facilities will be constructed on the island. The construction of the resort will follow international standards with the project supervisors based at site. Sustainable ‘green’ building techniques and material will be applied wherever possible to limit the environmental impact of the development. National and global environmental policy issues, have strong bearings on development of resorts on coral reefs in the Maldives. Legislation affecting tourism development and the institutional matters relating to tourism and environment are highlighted. The project will be developed in accordance with the guidelines and regulations relating to tourism in the Maldives. The developers will establish links to international efforts to conserve coral reef biodiversity by contributing to government efforts in environmental management. The Baseline conditions of the existing environment were investigated by established scientific methods and field surveys. The components of the environment that may be affected by the project were identified and baseline assessments were made with a view to monitor these components so that potential impacts can be mitigated. Coral cover, fish fauna, terrestrial flora and fauna, beach and nearshore marine habitats were assessed and surveyed. The island of Ekulhivaru was in pristine environmental condition at the time of the survey. The vegetation of the island was thick and lush green dominated by bushy tropical plants and trees. Coconut palms grew only on the eastern half on the island and were sparse. The island has extensive sandy beaches around it with intact beach vegetation and pollution free waters. Beaches were dominant at the western periphery of the island. Extensive beach erosion was observed at the east end of the island. Coral cover on the reef slope and reef flat was moderate to low and appears to be recovering from recent disturbances. All reef habitats were abundant in young coral colonies with high diversity. Major coral types are described. Beds of the coral Helipora sp were found at the western shallow lagoon area. Fish life was abundant and detailed fish lists are provided. Turtles nested on the island beaches as noted by the nests and tracks observed during field assessments. By carefully assessing and examining the condition of the coral reef habitats and the terrestrial environment, and after considering the project inputs and activities, environmental impacts resulting from this development was predicted and described. The most significant environmental impact resulting from the project would be the opening of a reef entrance and the deepening of the arrival jetty area lagoon to create a harbor basin. Impacts resulting from these activities are described and mitigations are proposed. Most of the impacts resulting from the construction stages and operational stages are low to medium in nature and can be mitigated with careful planning. Opening of the channel and entrance and deepening activities were found to be irreversible, but justified for a resort of this standard. Experience from other resort developments show that these impacts can be managed and an ecological balance can be achieved in time. Environmental impacts that are inevitable would include loss of some bottom biota (coral and invertebrates in particular), altered bathymetry, sediment re‐suspension and the potential for prolonged turbid conditions at least seasonally in the short to medium term. It is proposed to undertake practical and sensible mitigation measures to minimize those impacts. These include undertaking excavation work during maximum tidal flushing, use of bund walls and making use of a landing craft for transporting excavated material to the beach and strict supervision of the work at all times. Medium to long term impact of this change would lead to changes in bathymetry that would potentially alter the sediment dynamics in the immediate lagoon areas. Mitigation measures are considered and presented for each impact causing activity of the project. Production of water, power and waste management activities will proceed in accordance with government standards and guidelines and commitments are made to achieve the highest environmental standards in the operational stages of the resort. The proponent is fully committed to undertaking the mitigation measures proposed in this report and bear costs of the monitoring activities during construction and operational phase. The monitoring necessary for environmental mitigation has been laid out and their frequencies are presented. The proponent is committed to oversee and implement the monitoring programme and will allocate required finances for the activities proposed. The main monitoring activities will be those relating to coral reef health, water quality and changes in sediment dynamics and its effects on the beach profiles.Item Tourism sector: shoreline and beach protection(Ministry of Tourism, 2015-01-01) The Maldives Tourism Adaptation Project