PANJIM: Pending the finalisation of the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for Goa, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) has for the present declined to consider the proposed AHOY Marina project for an Environmental Clearance (EC).
The project proponent had approached the EAC for grant of Terms of Reference (ToR) and EC.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
At its recent meeting, the EAC observed that Goa’s CZMP has still not been approved and the matter
related to finalisation of CZMP is pending. “In view of this, EAC advised project proponent to submit the proposal once CZMP is finalized and approved by the Ministry (MOEF&CC),” the minutes of the meeting state.
The State government had in December, last year, submitted the CZMP to the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) for approval, which is still awaited, as the national coastal body has sought several clarifications from the State.
The marina project was approved by the Investment Promotion Board in 2015; but was strongly opposed by the villagers who said the facility will harm the ecology, marine life and destroy traditional fishing activity. The villagers had demanded that pending finalization of CZMP; the government cannot go ahead with it.
Following pressure from the villagers from Odxel-Nauxim and surrounding villages, the government was forced to drop the marina project, for meanwhile, and accordingly it had even informed the Bombay High Court at Goa in February 2021.
Two public hearings, scheduled on November 2, 2019 and July 26, 2020 were cancelled following public protests.
