Cabinet panel clears Rs1,156 crore coastal zone management project

The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved a Rs1,156-crore `Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Project'. The project, funded by the World Bank, will be implemented over the next five years by the ministry of environment and forests.

The World Bank's will provide 78 per cent of the project cost as a soft loan/IDA credit of around Rs897 crore.

"The ICZM project assumes special significance in the context of climate change since one of the definitive findings of the IPCC relates to the increase in mean sea levels as a result of global warming," a government release said.

The ICZM project includes national capacity building as also separate programmes for the Gulf of Kutch and Jamnagar district in Gujarat, wetland conservation activities in two stretches of the Orissa coast as also conservation programme for the Sunderbans, Haldia and Digha-Shankarpur regions of West Bengal.

The national ICZM capacity-building will involve a total investment of about Rs356 crore which will cover mapping, delineation and demarcation of the hazard lines and delineation of the coastal sediment cells along the mainland coast of India; mapping, delineation and demarcation of environmentally-sensitive areas that require protection; establishment of a National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management at Anna University, Chennai; and a nation-wide training programme for coastal zone management.

ICZM activities along the Gulf of Kutch and in Jamnagar district in Gujarat will involve a total investment of around Rs298 crore.