Relaxed green norms to speed up projects

Relaxed green norms to speed up projects
The Financial Express, February 24, 2009, Page 1

Sandip Das, Arun S

The government is all set to relax the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) norms for infrastructure, housing and IT projects to expedite flow of funds and speed up implementation.

Official sources told FE this is being done as it has come to light that problems relating to land acquisition and the difficulties in obtaining an environment clearance were the main reasons that delay projects in these sectors. Reacting to this, the ministry of environment and forest, in a draft notification, has proposed to change certain norms concerning EIA notification, which was issued in 2006.

Under the draft notification, issued on January 19, 2009, the ministry has proposed that there is no need for EIA if ‘modernisation or expansion proposals without any increase in pollution load and or without any additional water and or land requirement are exempted from the provision of EIA’.

However, in case of expansion of projects involving enhancement of production by more than 50%, holding of public consultation shall be essential and no exemption in this regard shall be provided. But the notification points out that all state highway projects and state highway expansion projects in hilly terrain or in ecologically sensitive areas will come to EIA ambit.

The draft notification, for which the environment ministry has sought comments from public, would be taken up for final nod after expiry of sixty days from the date of notification.

The draft notification also states that in case of air strips, which do not involve refuelling facility or air traffic-control, are exempted from EIA.

The ministry move comes at a time when many builders have told the government that getting environment clearance for each small apartment and IT park have made it difficult for them to complete the projects on time.

The first stimulus package announced by the government in December 2008 authorised India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited to raise Rs 10,000 crore to refinance bank lending for infrastructure projects and another Rs 4,000 crore to National Housing Banks for taking up refinancing.

The scheme for housing also had an interest subsidy for houses below Rs 20 lakh. The government’s aim was to ensure that in the next three months at least 10-20 lakh houses are built across the country, including under the Indira Awas Yojana. This will, in turn, spur demand for steel, cement, bricks, furniture, wood and several items needed for the construction of the houses.

But a majority of these measures are yet to take-off as each infrastructure project has to get an EIA prior to the launch.

EIA certification has been a contentious issue, as most of the infrastructure projects need to get a mandatory certification from the environment ministry prior to its launch. NGOs and activists have been stating that environment ministry does not have expertise to judge the environment impact of each and every project while many project developers have been stating that due to delay in awarding EIA certification, the small projects like IT or housing get delayed.