NGOs advocating for environment rights call to cancel Addu's land reclamation project as it would cause irreparable damage to the atoll's environment.
Referring to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted to gauge the how the project would impact the environment, several organisations including Transparency Maldives are calling halt the massive land reclamation project. Aimed to solve the issue of unavailable land, the proposed project would reclaim 236.5 hectares of land in Addu.
Addu's Mayor Ali Nizar has previously said the city they plans to officially hand over the project to a contractor before February is over.
In addition to Transparency Maldives, Save Maldives, Zero Waste Maldives, Maldives Resilient Reefs, Land Sea Maldives, and EcoCare Maldives has called to stop the project.
In a statement, the organizations said that while 6.9 million square meters of sand is required for the project, the sand required for the project will be collected from two areas of Addu. As this is nearly 42 percent of the selected areas, it will cause irreparable damage to Addu Atoll.
The organisations are concerned the project would lead to the area to be completely destroyed by the reclamation of the large amount of sand, which would affect the reefs and other marine life in the area.
It is another concern that the geography of the atoll would lead the waters unclear and muddy for a long period once the sand is harvested.
Based on the EIA report, the statement raised several concerns of the organizations.
- The EIA report revealed that the project will pollute 21 hectares of coral and 120 hectares of seagrass.
- Addu Biosphere Reserve will be destroyed, damaging the protected areas where marine life such as mantas, dolphins, and turtles often visit.
- Number of sharks visible in the dive site British Loyalty Shipwreck will decrease.
- The damage to the environment will affect the already vulnerable tourism in Addu.
The statement released by the organisation outlines that previous land reclamation projects in Addu had polluted the atoll, affecting the fishing in the atoll as well. The fear that this project may lead to similar outcomes.
The organisations said if the government goes ahead with this project knowing all the possible ways it could lead to issues in the future, the are condemning and unaware population to problems in the future.
Land reclamation from Addu is to be financed under the USD 800 million Line of Credit facility of Exim Bank of India. These include 90 hectares of land reclaimed from Hithadhoo, 75 hectares from Maradhoo/Maradhoo-Feydhoo and 38 hectares from Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo. An additional 25 hectares is to be reclaimed for tourism purposes as well.
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