Environmental Impact Assessment for the

Proposed Road Development Project in Thilafushi

Kaafu Atoll

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Proponent: Housing Development Corporation

Prepared by:

Amir Musthafa (EIA PO1/2013)

June 2021

1. Provide proponent’s letter of commitment to undertake mitigation measures and to

carry out monitoring program as per the EIA

Please find attached in following page

2. Temporary site setup location need to be provided (marked on map)

Further consultation was held with the proponent regarding temporary site, and it was

informed that the temporary site location cannot been finalized at this stage and will

only be done after hiring contractor for the project. It was further informed that there

are plenty of barren land in Thilafushi which the contractor can use as their temporary

site for the project without any land clearance.

3. Who is in charge of the making the emergency response plan? Is the proponent going

to condition the contractor to have an EHS officer in the team as it is his responsibility

to undertake a lot of the daily monitoring?

Emergency response plan should be overseen by the EHS officer. Proponent is

required to condition contractor to have an EHS officer in the team as is given in the

EIA.

4. Report states dewatering regulation is applicable ‘due to dewatering component of

water supply facility construction’ - the report makes no reference to a water supply

facility construction in its project description. Please explain.

Water supply facility is not part of the project. The statement in the EIA is factually

incorrect. The project only involves road development works.

5. Provide information on labor accommodation facilities

Labour accommodation will be managed within the aforementioned temporary site in

Thilafushi, which will be decided only after the contractor is assigned for the project.

6. Survey of flood prone areas need to be given as per the ToR

Please find attached topographic survey of the flood prone areas in the following page

7. Ground water needs to be tested for hydrocarbons as per the ToR.

Hydrocarbon could not be tested at the time of report submission.

A more detailed groundwater assessment was done recently for Thilafushi for the

Thilafushi Dumpsite Rehabilitation EIA. However, tests for polynuclear hydrocarbon

contents of groundwater resulted in non-determinant for all the locations. The

locations and the data from the EIA is presented below.

Figure 1 Groundwater sampling locataions, EIA for Thilafushi Dumpsite Rehabilitation, (WS 2020)

Table 1 Polynuclear hydrocarbon content in Groundwater in Thilafushi, EIA for Thilafushi Dumpsite Rehabilitation,

(WS 2020)

Parameter GW1 GW2 GW3 GW4 GW5 GW6 GW7 GW8

POLYNUCLEAR AROMOTAIC HYDROCARBONS

Naphthalene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Acenaphthylene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Acenaphtene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Fluorene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Phenanthrene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Anthracene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Flouranthene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Pyrene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Benzo(a)antharacene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Chrysene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Benzo(a)pyrene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Benzo(e)pyrene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Dibenzo(1,h)anthracene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Benzo(g,h,i)perylene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Benzo(b)flouranthene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Benzo(j)flouranthene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

Benzo(k)flouranthene ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND

8. On page 59, the report says community consultation was carried out through Google

questionnaire, which was shared with the island council. Which island council?

This information given in the EIA is incorrect as there is no island council for the

governance of Thilafushi island. This mandate is now carried out by the proponent,

Housing Development Corporation (HDC). The section is to be revised as given below.

“Stakeholder Consultation

The consultations were mostly undertaken through online meetings. The relevant

details of the project were shared with the concerning parties through mail prior to

the meetings. With some of the stakeholders, phone consultations were undertaken

and some got back directly in writing. Consultations were undertaken with the

following stakeholders:

1. Housing Development Corporation (HDC) as the project developer

2. State Electric Company (STELCO) as the power utility service provider in

Thilafushi

3. Male’ Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC) as the water utility service provider

in Thilafushi

4. Ministry of National Planning Housing and Infrastructure as the primary road

developer in the Maldives

5. Ministry of Environment as an important stakeholder in Thilafushi regarding the

Greater Male’ waste management project”

9. How does the proponent address MNPHI’s concern that green drainage might not be

sufficient in Thilafushi? Are any provisions made in case of overflow?

The provision are given in Section 6.2 under Alternative drainage options. It is

recommended in the EIA to adopt this hybrid drainage solution for this project.

10. How does this project take into consideration the protection of workers amidst Covid

19 situation? Is there an SOP for this in the EHS plan?

SOP for the protection of workers amidst the COVID19 pandemic is given below.

It is recommended to follow the workplace guidelines published by HPA titled “Getting

your workplace/organization ready”.

The main points in the guidelines relevant to this project includes

1. Cleaning the workplace

2. Sick employees to remain at home

3. Promote regular handwashing

4. Promote good respiratory hygiene

5. Physical distancing measures

Furthermore, Maldives National Association for Construction Industry had made

available “Prevention and Mitigation of COVID-19 at work: Action checklist” by

International Labor Organization, which is recommended to be adhered to.

In addition to effective communication and training of construction staff, the document

proposes the following:

1 Organize work in a way to allow for physical distancing of at least 2 meters (6

feet) from other people or another distance as prescribed by the relevant

competent authority

2 Avoid face-to-face meetings, giving preference to phone calls, email or virtual

meetings. If you need to organize meetings, organize the space to allow for

physical distancing

3 Provide staff, customers and visitors with ample and easily accessible places

where they can wash their hands with soap and water, disinfect hands with

sanitizers, and in addition, promote a culture of hand washing

4 Put sanitizing hand rub dispensers in prominent places around the workplace and

make sure these dispensers are regularly refilled

5 Promote a culture of regular wiping of surfaces in the work environment

6 Promote and communicate good respiratory hygiene at the workplace, such as

covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or

sneeze

7 Provide appropriate facemasks and make available paper tissues at worksites, for

use by those who develop a runny nose or cough, along with closed bins for

hygienically disposing of them at temporary site.

In addition to these the document also proposes the following arrangements for

suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases:

1 In line with the local authorities guidance, encourage workers with suspected

symptoms of COVID-19 not to come to the workplace and to follow the

guidance of the local authorities

2 Advise workers to call their healthcare provider or the local public health

department when they have serious health condition including trouble breathing,

giving them details of their recent travel and symptoms

3 Arrange for isolation of any person who develops COVID-19 symptoms at the

work site, while awaiting transfer to an appropriate health facility.

Arrange for disinfection of the work site and health surveillance of persons who

have close contact.

The construction teams are to be divided into small teams to form bubbles within the

workforce, so that in the event of an employee getting positive, it does not affect the

entire work force. Physical interactions between the teams to be minimal and when

physical meetings are required, distance recommended above to be maintained.

Regular updates from HPA have to be followed at all times, and the measures taken

should adapt any new update from HPA. This should be communicated with all

construction staff and documents should be posted in staff gathering areas including site

office, any canteen/cafeteria space, and in accommodation units.

11. Confirm if transplantation is in project cost as report refers to vegetation to be discarded

as green waste couple of times in the report.

Transplantation is indeed in the project costs

12. On page 93, it is stated that the cost of carrying out full topography of the island is zero.

Provide the cost of this mitigation measure.

The cost is given as zero as the proponent have an in-house land survey team with

equipment and therefore the works will be done by the same team at no additional costs

13. On page 102, the report says, dewatering would be carried out. However, the impact of

it is not given in the report.

The information given in the report is incorrect. The proposed ground improvement is up

to 1.5 m depth. So there will not be significant dewatering carried out as part of the

project. The paragraph in page 102 in the report to be revised as below.

“The main negative impacts of the proposed development include small, short-term

impacts associated with increased operation of machinery and vessels during mobilization

and construction period. These are usually short-term environmental impacts and spread

across a small spatial extent and can be mitigated easily with proper operational and

maintenance standards in place. Major impacts due to accidents are improbable and can be

avoided with good operations procedures in place including enforcing the project

contractor to develop and adopt Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) plan for the works

“

14. Provide work schedule for the project which clearly shows duration for all project

components

The revised duration is for 12 months. Please find attached the schedule in the following page

No. Activities Duration(Month) 

THILAFUSHI ROAD DEVELOPMENT PROJECT ‐ WORK SCHEDULE

35 Submission of Asbuilt drawings 136 Demobilisation and hand over 1

33 Inspection of levels and approvals 134 Commissioning 1

31 Installation of Paving blocks carriage way 432 Installation of paving blocks walkway 3

29 Road base layer Inspection & Testing 230 Installation of Sand layer 3

27 Installation of Curb stones with backup concrete. 328 Provide Road base layer and compaction 3

25 U/G power lines Inspection & Testing 0.526 Erection of light poles 1

23 Installing light Pole Foundation 224 Installing U/G power lines 2

22 Inspection and testing of future utilities provision 0.5

17 U/G storm water lines Inspection & Testing 1

20 Laying of pipes for future utilities 119 U/G storm water Manholes  Inspection & Testing 1

14 Installing U/G settlement tanks 2

21 Instllation junction chambers for future utilities 1

13 Excavation Inspection & Testing 0.5

18 Installing U/G storm water Manholes 2

12 Excavation for utility trenches and Manholes 1

15 U/G settlemt tanks inspection 116 Installing U/G storm water lines 2

10 Grading general area 111 Grading inspection 1

7 Site clearing  1

9 General excavation 1.58 Vegetation transplantation 1

5.3 HDPE Pipes, Manholes, streetlight assembly, Storm water infiltration basins, Sign boards.

6

6 Procurement inspection 1.5

5.1 Gravel, Sand for base layer, Clean Sand 65.2 Concrete Paving Blocks, Light pole Foundations 6

3Survey and setting out including benchmarks and control points

1

5 Procurement 6

4Submission of Construction drawings and material approvals

1

1 Mobilization 22 Temporary Facilities 1

7 8 9 10 11 121 2 3 4 5 6