F.No.10-12j2012-IA.III Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (IA.IIISection) Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jor Bagh Road, New Delhi - 3 Dated: 25th October, 2016 To The Chief General Manager (LA), National Highways Authority of India, G- 5&6, Sector - 10, Dwarka, New Delhi - 75 Sub: 'Widening and Improvement of existing 2 lane Highway to 4/ 6 lane of Bhavnagar - Pipavav - Porbandar - Dwarka Section of NH-SE' in Gujarat by National Highways Authority of India - Environmental and CRZClearance - reg. Sir, This has reference to your application No.1013j 1j2kjEnv.j 163 dated, ' 20.05.2015 and subsequent letters dated 04.12.2015, 23.03.2016 and 28.06.2016, submitting the above proposal to this Ministry for grant of Environment and CRZ Clearance in term of the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. 2. The proposal for 'Widening and Improvement of existing 2 lane Highway to 4/ 6 lane of Bhavnagar - Pipavav - Porbandar - Dwarka Section of NH-SE' in Gujarat by National Highways Authority of India, was considered by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) in the Ministry for Infrastructure ~ Development, Coastal Regulation Zone, Buildingj Construction and Miscellaneous projects, in its meetings held on 24-26 June, 2015, 22-23 December, 2015,29-30 August, 2015 and 9th September, 2016. 3. The details of the project, as per the documents submitted by the project proponent, and also as informed during the above said EAC meetings, are reported to be as under:- (i) The ToR was accorded to the project vide letter No.10-12j2012-IA-III dated 27.04.2012. (ii) The proposal involves widening and improvement of existing 2 lane Highway to 4j 6 lane of Bhavnagar - Pipavav - Porbandar - Dwarka Section of' NH-8E from km 3.200 to km 473.000 i.e. 469.800 km long stretch in Gujarat by: National Highways Authority of India. The proposed road starts at km 3.200 near Adhewada village in Bhavnagar, passes through Talaja, Mahuva, Una, Kodinar, Veravel, Chorwad, Mangrol, Madhavpur, Porbandar, Kalyanpur and ends at Dwarka. (iii) Total 469.800 km long stretch falls in six districts namely, Bhavnagar, Amreli, Gir-Somnath, Junagadh, Porbandar and Dev-bhoomi Dwarka. (iv) The road stretch passes mainly through plainj rolling terrain. The existing road has 7 m carriageway, shoulder varying from 1 to 2.5 m on either side and Proposal No. IA/GJ/MIS/116/2012 ~ Page 10f9 ROW from 30-45 m. With the proposed widening/improvement, the RoW would be increased to 30 m to 60 m. (v) The project would cover 37 major bridges (16 proposed for widening, 9 for reconstruction and 12 new construction), and 159 minor bridges. Also, 340 nos. of culverts shall be improved/widened to 4 lane, and additional 626 nos. to be newly constructed. 5 nos of ROB and 6 nos. of flyover are proposed to be constructed along the project corridor. The proposed length of service road in built up areas is 20.20 km at 12 locations. 20 nos. of cattle underpasses and 9 pedestrian underpasses are proposed to be constructed. 7 nos. of toll plazas, 34 nos. of bus bays with bus shelter and 3 truck lay-bye will be constructed. (vi) Total 1875 KLDwater will be extracted from surface and groundwater. (vii) The proposed alignment passes through CRZ-IA(340 m), CRZ-IB (3492 m), CRZ-III(23703 m) and CRZ-IVB(896 m) i.e. the total stretch of 28.431 km. Project Area Category Length Improvement Proposal (sqm) (m) -Existing 2-lane Major Bridge @433+765 km - 831.60m length adjacent to the existing Major Bridge is proposed. CRZ-IA 340 969 -Existing 4-lane Minor Bridge @ 494+637 km - 30m length is proposed to be retained after repairs and widening -Major Bridge @ 120+757km of 63m length is proposed at existing Major Bridge location and existing bridge will be reconstructed. -Minor Bridge @ 122+271 km - 27.0m length is proposed at existing Major Bridge location and existing bridge will be reconstructed. -Minor Bridge @ 122+817 km - 10.2m length is proposed at existing Minor Bridge location and existing bridge will be reconstructed. - Minor Bridge @ 127+730 km - 52.2m length CRZ-IB 3492 25171 is proposed adjacent to the existing Minor Bridge. - Existing 2-lane Major Bridge @ 338+731 km - 98m length to be retained after repairs to crash barrier -Existing 2-lane Road is on ground is proposed to be strengthen and paved shoulder on both side is proposed. -Existing Major Bridge @375+572 km - 650.40m length to be retained after repairs to crash barrier . -Minor Bridge @ 121+483 km of 10.2m length is proposed adjacent to the existing Minor Bridge. CRZ-III 23703 202532 -Minor Bridge @ 122+271 km - 27.0m length is proposed at existing Major Bridge location and existing bridge will be reconstructed. -Existing Major Bridge @ 362+365 km - 480m CRZ-IVB 896 4017 length to be retained after repairs to crash barrier (viii) The CRZ demarcation study has been done by IRS, Anna University Chennai. The project alignment will pass through mangroves area in Gadu to Dwarka section. Turtle habitant locations are marked in CRZ maps. All habitants are on sea Phase. However, there will be n? impact on turtle nesting. Proposal No. IA/GJ /MIS/ 116/20 12 gt Page 2 of 9 ~ (ix) Forest land: The total land required includes 653.13 ha of agricultural! land and 808.619 ha of forest land. (x) Trees cutting: 15,299 nos. of trees exists within the proposed 60m RoW, however tree felling will be restricted to 15000 nos. by restricting tree cutting within 45 m RoW. 45000 trees shall be planted as avenue plantation as per norms of Gujarat Government in lieu of felling of 15000 trees. In addition, compensatory afforestation shall be carried out by the Forest Department as per statu tory requirement. (xi) Total 2805 nos. of residential structures and 1596 nos. of commercial structures shall be completely/partially affected. 71 religious structures, 24 nos. of educational/ institutional buildings and 1 no. of Health Centres will be affected partially / completely. The affected families/ structures shall be compensated as per the National Rehabilitation Policy. (xii) Water bodies: There are 54 water bodies (9 rivers & 45 ponds) along the pr~ectroad. (xiii) SCZMAApproval: The Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority has, recommended the project vide their letter No.ENY-10-2015-53-E dated 21st May, 2015 (xiv) Wildlife issues: The proposed road does not pass through any National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, and Eco-Sensitive Zones. (xv) Investment/Cost: The budget for environment management is Rs.31.605 Crores and Resettlement & Rehabilitation cost is approximately Rs.35.15 Crores. The total cost of the project is Rs.2650.96 crores. (xvi) Public Hearing: Public Hearing was held on 18.10.2013 in Amreli District, 04.10.2013 in Bhavnagar District, 05.10.2013 in Gir Somnath District, 11.10.2013 in Junagadh District, 25.10.2013 in Devbhumi Dwarka District and on 15.11.2013 in Porbandar District. (xvii) Employment potential: Providing better connectivity will ensure that goods and people from areas covered by the road can move in and out of the' areas quicker and save time. Increased trade and commerce activity are expected.' It has a very good tourism potential due to famous religious and tourist places. The industrial activity will be getting a good boost due to this upgradation of the existing road to Gujarat Government plan of developing industrial region. The industrial activity will give rise to employment potential for people in and around: the region. There will be employment potential during the Construction activities! related to the upgradation of the existing road. (xviii)Benefits of the project: The widening/ upgradation of the project highway have direct benefits and are indicated below: a) Improved quality of living in the project area b) Economic benefits to the local population c) Provide Employment d) Easy accesses to Agricultural Marketing e) School, Health facilities f) Enhance Environmental measures for aesthetic impacts g) Better traffic facilities provided to public and decrease road accidents! due to traffic growth. h) To promote truism as this road is joined two famous class religious places i.e. Somnath and Dwarka . i) Bhavnagar Veraval Porbandar Dwarka is joined many Industries and, ports and this corridor will improved facilities to goods transport as welt as export facilities. J .s-: Proposal No. lA/OJ /MISj116/20 12 Page 3 of9 4. The EAC in its 154th meeting held on 22-23 December, 2015, has recommended the project for grant of Environmental and CRZ Clearance. As per recommendations of the EAC, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change hereby accords Environmental and CRZ Clearance to the above project 'Widening and Improvement of existing 2 lane Highway to 4/ 6 lane of Bhavnagar - Pipavav - Porbandar - Dwarka Section of NH-SE' in Gujarat by National Highways Authority of India under the provisions of the EIA Notification, 2006 and CRZ Notification, 2011 and amendments thereto, subject to the compliance of the specific and general conditions as under:- PART A - SPECIFIC CONDITIONS (i) Since roadside trees have to be felled for road widening, adequate compensatory plantation shall be carried out up to the satisfaction of the concerned forest department. A monitoring of the effectiveness of the pollution attenuating barriers shall be taken up after 5 years from the planting of roadside trees. The results, of the monitoring programme shall be conveyed to the concerned forest department/ State Pollution Control Board.