The Great Nicobar Project is a recent mega project aimed at the holistic development of the Great Nicobar Island, located at the southern end of the Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands in the Bay of Bengal. In this article, you can read all about the Great Nicobar Project, its possible impact on the economy and ecology of the region. This topic is important for the IAS exam from both the environment and economy perspectives.
Great Nicobar Project
The project, which has been approved and is expected to cost ₹72,000 crores, is being piloted by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog).
- It seeks to unlock the island’s largely unexplored potential while preserving and maintaining its natural ecosystem and rich biodiversity.
- The project is expected to bring nearly 400,000 people to the island during its span of three decades, which amounts to a 4,000% increase in its current population.
- The plan has four components:
- A transhipment port at Galathea Bay;
- A dual-use military-civil international airport;
- A power plant; and
- A township.
These components will be built over three decades on more than 160 sq. km of land, of which 130 sq. km is primary forest. The northern end of the project falls in the biosphere reserve, which means a part of this protected region will have to be allotted to the project.
About Great Nicobar Islands:
- The Great Nicobar Island spans a little more than 900 sq. Km.
- Out of the total area, 850 sq. km is under the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956 and is designated as a tribal reserve.
- The island has been home to two isolated and indigenous tribes, the Shompen and the Nicobaris for thousands of years.
- In 1989, the Great Nicobar Island was declared a biosphere reserve and in 2013 it was included in UNESCO’s MAB (Man and Biosphere) Programme.
- It has a unique arrangement of microhabitats, sandy and rocky beaches, bays and lagoons, littoral patches with mangrove communities, evergreen and tropical forests, and more.
- It hosts several species including trees, birds, reptiles, marine animals, mammals, ferns, insects, crustaceans, and amphibians. Species such as the Nicobari Megapode are endemic to Great Nicobar and found nowhere else in the world.
Great Nicobar Project Concerns
- The project has faced resistance from ecologists, anthropologists, domain experts, and former civil servants who have called it an impending ecological disaster.Â
- An estimated 8.5 lakh trees are to be felled in GNI’s rainforests for this project. These forests are home to many endangered species.
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has cleared the project, but environmentalists are concerned about the impact it will have on the island’s biodiversity and the indigenous communities.
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