Great Nicobar mega-infrastructure project

Context

The Union Government’s ₹92,000 crore holistic development project on Great Nicobar Island (GNI), intended to create a major port and tourism-led economy, has accelerated, with the Andaman & Nicobar administration notifying its draft master plan. The project entails an International Container Transhipment Port (ICTP), airport, and township, which seek to turn the island into one of the key maritime centers in the region close to the Malacca Strait and affect the local ecology and communities. 

Overview of the Project

• Scale and Scope: The project will consist of a detailed 166 sq km development project that will create a new modern economic and strategic center with an estimated population of 3.36 lakh by 2055.
• Major Infrastructure Elements: The venture is based on a huge container transhipment port (ICTP) in Galathea Bay, an international airport, gas and solar power plants, and a busy city/township.
• Vision 2055: The project sees the influx of over 1 million tourists annually, 70 percent of employment created in tourism, business, and entertainment industries. 

Strategic and Economic Significance

• Malacca Strait Advantage: Located at the southernmost tip of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, GNI is adjacent to the crucial Malacca Strait, allowing India to manage a key entry point of global sea trade.
• Transhipment Hub: The ICTP will minimize reliance on external ports such as Singapore and Colombo and will make India a major regional maritime player.
• Economic Transformation: The project is to catalyze the economy of India by tourism, shipbuilding and industrial development in efforts to spur the trade in the region. 

Ecological Concerns and Environmental Impact

• Deforestation: An area of about 130 sq km of forest area has to be diverted in the project and this implies the cutting of almost a million trees.
• Biodiversity Impact: The development is threatening to destroy a legally-protected biosphere reserve. Threats to more than 20,000 coral colonies and nesting areas of the endemic Nicobar Megapode and the Giant Leatherback turtle are noted.
• Sustainability Problems: Critics and environmentalists have called on the government to take into account the irreversible adverse effects and call upon the need to have a more sustainable form of development. 

Social and Cultural Implications

• Impact on Indigenous Tribes: There are still fears of the consequences of the rights of the local communities such as the Nicobarese, the endangered Shompen tribes.
• Rehabilitation Problems: The plan requires the resettlement of the local tribes, which breeds the concern of ancestral territories and traditional livelihoods. 

Regulatory and Legal Status

• Project Approvals: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), though being concerned with the environment, gave the project a clean bill of rights, in the view that the project had high strategic, defense, and national significance.
• Legal Battles: Legal suits against the clearances of the project are still on in the Calcutta High Court. 

Way Forward

The project will be developed in a strategic area. Nevertheless, it is a crucial issue of balancing the strategic requirement with the maintenance of a clean ecosystem and safeguarding the rights of the indigenous populations that the government must carefully plan and involve stakeholders.

Source: The Hindu

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