Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Environmental Clearance for construction projects in India - What is it and how can we obtain one?

INTRODUCTION

As per EIA notification S.O 1533 dated 14/09/2006, by Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), obtaining prior environmental clearance from the concerned regulatory authority before the commencement of work has become mandatory for all developments which meet certain criteria specified in the notification. Obtaining clearance is mandatory for certain expansion / modernization works also.

All projects are classified into category ‘A’ or ‘B’, of which clearance for all category ‘A’ projects are to be given by the MOEF, and clearance for category ‘B’ projects are granted by the State level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). In the absence of SEIAA in any state, the MOEF will be considered as the regulatory authority. The category B is again subdivided in to ‘B1’ and ‘B2’, where projects under category ‘B1’ require a proper Environmental Impact Assessment. The categorization of projects are given here.

In Kerala, the State level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) were formed by central government vide a notification S.O 2484(E) dated 3rd November 2011. The Directorate of Environment & Climate change, Thiruvananthapuram (located at Pettah) is designated to act as the Secretariat of the SEIAA and SEAC. SEIAA is a three member committee, with chairman, member and a member secretary. The SEIAA bases its decisions on the recommendations of the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), which also was formed by the same notification. SEAC has currently 14 members, and their term is three years from the date of notification. SEACs meet at least once every month.

CLEARANCE PROCESS – Specific for Construction / Township development projects (under item 8)

The procedure for obtaining the environmental clearance for construction projects is as mentioned in the central government notification SO1533 dated 14/09/2006.

1.    A project proposal with an application in the prescribed format as Form-1 & (or) Form-1A as in the annexure II of the notification to be submitted along with a conceptual plan to the regulatory authority before starting any construction activities at site. This application is scrutinized in detail by the SEAC, and determines whether the project falls in category B1 or B2. All projects in category B1 require an Environmental Impact Assessment.

2.    Within 60days of receiving the application and Form-1 from the proponent, the SEAC will convey the terms of reference (TOR) addressing all relevant environmental concerns for the preparation of Environmental Impact Assessment report.

3.    The final EIA report (for those projects under category B1) and environmental management plan shall be submitted to SEAC, and this will then be taken for a presentation meeting before the SEAC. The project proponent is also required to attend the presentation meeting of SEAC, and shall make a presentation on the salient features of the project, the related environmental issues, proposed environmental management plans. The representative of the project proponent shall also respond to the queries / suggestions which the committee may raise during the discussion. Based on this meeting, the SEAC makes categorical recommendations to the regulatory authority concerned (SEIAA) for grand of prior environmental clearance on stipulated terms and conditions. Before the presentation meeting, the project proponent shall distribute one copy each of the full set of proposal to all the members of the SEAC at least 15days in advance to the date of meeting.

4.    Once the environmental clearance is obtained from the regulatory authority, it is mandatory for the proponent to submit half-yearly compliance reports in respect of the stipulated prior environmental clearance terms and conditions, in hard and soft copies to the regulatory authority concerned.

APPOINTMENT OF CONSULTANTS
The proponent can appoint an environmental consultant for conducting the impact assessment and preparing the report as well as the detailed proposal for submission. The consultant can also attend the SEAC meeting as an authorized representative of the proponent. In such case, the consultant shall be an accredited consultant by the Quality Council of India (QCI). Also, the representation should be through an irrevocable POA (Power of Attorney) executed and formally registered with the sub registrar.


Next: What makes a project proposal complete?