The Great Nicobar project
— Check for Sagarmala III under the ministry
Cost:
80,000 crore mega infrastructure project on Great Nicobar Island (GNI). The project, being implemented by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO).
Components of the project
- Transshipment port in Galathea Bay
- Airport
- with a peak hour capacity to hold around 4,000 passengers
- Greenfield township and Tourism project
- Gas powered power plant - solar based
Connectivity to South & East countries
Nicobar offers excellent connectivity to at least five countries to the east—Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka—as well as Indian ports on the eastern coast.
New projects
Ministry proposed a host of new projects 5. international cruise terminal to facilitate a global port led city The township alone covers 130 sq.km of largely primary tropical rainforest of the total project area of little over 160 sq.km
Rules to safeguard the tribes
Rules and regulations were made considering their resistance and respecting their right to continue with their unique lifestyle. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956, designates tribal reserves and restricts entry for outsiders. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, provides a legal framework against exploitation, while the Forest Rights Act, 2006, recognises their land rights. The Ministry of Home Affairs has put in place several restrictions and announced specific policies for the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) such as the Jarawas and Shompen.
Concerns - forest destruction
Key concern is the scale of forest destruction proposed
Initial numbers for trees to be cut ranged from 8.65 lakhs as mentioned in March, 2021 but later revised to 9.64 lakhs in august, 2024
Recent media reports that trees standing in these 130 sq.km forests could be as many as 10 million.
The construction of an international container transshipment terminal, a greenfield international airport and a township, among other things—will require diversion of 13,075 hectares of forest land, which is 15 percent of the island’s area.
"Chapter 5 of the EIA report, which describes alternate sites considered for the project, has omitted the least environmentally destructive site, Campbell Bay, and only included the other three sites, which are either as or marginally more environmentally sensitive than the Galathea Bay", letter written by Jairam Ramesh said.
The former environment minister stressed that the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) highlighted this point—that the project location was chosen purely on technical and financial criteria, not considering the environment—in its 260th meeting held on 5 and 6 April, 2021.
The project will also cost over 8.5 lakh trees and affect more than 1,700 people from the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes. Dredging the ocean to reclaim 300 hectares of land is also expected to impact over 20,000 coral colonies around the island.
Utilising soft woods for power generation
Project implementing agencies explore the possibility of utilising the soft woods (woods cut from these forests) as biomass for power generation. This is like entering a library and lighting up rare manuscripts for the evening barbeque or bull dozing an ancient temple and crushing the stones for use in road construction.
Forests of GNI are traditional home to communities such as Shompen, and they have special status under the law.
ANIIDCO company
One of the company involved in the project is ANIIDCO, which only sold liquor, milk and petroleum for more than three decades.
Issues with compensatory afforestation
Diversion of 130 sq.km of pristine tropical forest in GNI is being compensated by declaring 260 sq.km of land in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh as forest land.
In august 2024, the government notified 243.5 sq.km of land in aravallis in Haryana as protected forests. 119.5 acres of this very forest land was handed over by Haryana's minig department to a private entity for stone quarrying.
Shekhar singh commission, 2002
2002 report by the Supreme court appointed Shekhar Singh commission prescribed 2 key points:
- all felling of trees in national parks, sanctuaries, tribal reserves and all other areas shall stand suspended
- first compulsory afforestation should take place and felling permissions would be based upon the extent of regeneration of forest undertaken.
Another concern is the coral reef
Coastline came under the coastal regulation zone as it has coral reefs along the entire east coast and this would be constraint for ship repair activity.
In november 2022, an RTI application seeking for information from MoEFCC related to the forest and environment clearances granted to the project. The ministry refused to divulge, invoking the issues of sovereignty, integrity, security and strategic concerns of the country via Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI act.
Civil and Military use infrastructure
Airport was a military - civil dual use, under the operational control of the Navy.
Incongruence of denying informatioin on the entire project when only one component, the airport, had a defence connection.
The transshipment port, the heart of the entire project
Estimated cost gone up, but no work begun
The estimated cost gone up from 35,959 crore in March, 2021 to 43,796 crore in September 2024. This is 20% escalation in 3 years when no work has been begun in the ground.
A Game Changer for India's Maritime Trade: The Galathea Bay Port
The proposed transshipment port at Galathea Bay, Great Nicobar Island, marks a significant milestone in enhancing India’s maritime infrastructure. With an estimated investment of ₹18,000 crore for Phase 1, this ambitious project aims to develop a state-of-the-art facility that will facilitate the handling of approximately 4 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) by 2028.
Why is this important?
Currently, India loses around ₹1,000 crore annually in foreign exchange as nearly 75% of its transshipment cargo is routed through foreign ports like Colombo and Singapore. By developing the Galathea Bay port, India can save these costs and strategically position itself on crucial shipping routes between Asia and the global markets.
Out of the 10 busiest container terminal ports in the world, six are in China, and one each in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These account for as much as 60 to 70 per cent of the 20-foot and 40–foot (1 TEU and 2 TEU) containers transhipment. Apparently, nearly all these container terminals and other ports in Asia and the Indian subcontinent, as well as in China and the Far East, depend on the shipping lanes through the Malacca Strait, which accounts for nearly $3.5 trillion in global trade.
The Strait of Malacca is also an important maritime highway for the stakeholders of Indo-Pacific as it connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans. For the Quad and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), this sea lane of communication, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the global GDP, becomes the lifeline to trade, commerce, and connectivity.
By virtue of the gigantic number of ships—about 90,000—passing through a narrow Strait, the sea lanes of communication and the ports have become choke points in the Indian Ocean.
The project not only promises economic benefits but also aims to strengthen India’s coastal security and defense capabilities, given its proximity to the strategic Malacca Strait. Furthermore, it will cater to larger vessels and potentially enhance the region's connectivity to East Coast ports and neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar.
This initiative aligns perfectly with India’s vision of becoming a global trade hub. With Vizhinjam on the west and Galathea on the east, both strategic and commercial interests are taken care of.
Collision of ships
Interestingly, in spite of the vast expanse of the sea, ships follow a designated route guided by navigation software, GPS, and Electronic Charting System (ECS), very much like the flight path in the sky. This often results in ships cruising very close and colliding due to massive waves, ocean currents, or simply not following the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS).
In 2021, a container ship, Zephyr Lumos, collided with the bulker, Galapagos, off the port of Muar in the Strait of Malacca, badly damaging the Galapagos and resulting in a huge oil spill.
Threat of piracy
In May 2011, when Somali pirates attacked the Chinese-owned MV Full City in the Arabian Sea, about 450 nautical miles west of Karwar, the Indian Navy successfully thwarted the piracy attempt with no collateral damage.
China
China has established maritime reconnaissance and electronic intelligence surveillance stations on Great Coco Island, located on the border of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, just 50 km away from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The central government’s initiative to build a shipyard and a dual-use airport (military-civilian) in Campbell Bay to compete with China is a laudable initiative.
The government is also reported to be upgrading the Andaman and Nicobar Command (the only tri-service command), expanding the INS Baaz and Kohassa airstrips to facilitate operations of fighter jets and surveillance aircraft, and building new jetties and logistics hubs to improve naval operations.
Mus port
the government should also improve the condition of the much–neglected Car Nicobar’s Mus Port. Located 150 nautical miles from Sri Vijaya Puram and strategically positioned near the vital Ten Degree Channel, it can play a crucial role in assisting stranded merchant ships, the Navy, and Coast Guard vessels.
Last month, a high-powered committee formed by the National Green Tribunal to reassess the green clearances provided to the Great Nicobar project said that the proposed transshipment port did not fall under the Island Coastal Regulation Zone (ICRZ-IA)—where ports are not allowed—but in an area where it is permitted.
This conclusion contradicted earlier information submitted by the Andaman and Nicobar Coastal Management Authority, which had noted during the environmental clearance process that parts of the port, township and airport fell under the prohibited zone.
