An Overview of the Great Nicobar Project

The National Institution for Transforming India ( NITI Aayog ) is spearheading this project, which has been approved and is projected to cost around ₹72,000 crores.

• The project aims to tap into the island’s vast untapped potential while preserving and nurturing its natural ecosystem and rich biodiversity.
• The project is projected to attract nearly 400,000 people to the island over three decades, marking a whopping 4,000% increase in its current population.
• The project comprises four key components:
  • A transhipment port at Galathea Bay;
  • A dual-purpose military-civil international airport;
  • A power generation plant; and
  • A residential township.

These components are planned to be constructed over three decades on an area exceeding 160 sq. km, of which 130 sq. km is primary forest. The northern end of the project falls within the biosphere reserve , which implies that a portion of this protected region will be allocated to the project.

About Great Nicobar Islands:

• The Great Nicobar Island covers an area just over 900 sq. Km.
• 850 sq. km of the total area is protected under the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956 and is designated as a tribal reserve.
• The island has been the home to two isolated and indigenous tribes, the Shompen and the Nicobaris for millennia.
• In 1989, the Great Nicobar Island was declared a biosphere reserve and in 2013 it was included in UNESCO’s MAB (Man and Biosphere) Programme.
• The island boasts a unique assortment of microhabitats, sandy and rocky beaches, bays and lagoons, littoral patches with mangrove communities, evergreen and tropical forests, and more.
• The island is home to a multitude of species including trees, birds, reptiles, marine animals, mammals, ferns, insects, crustaceans, and amphibians. Some species like the Nicobari Megapode are endemic to Great Nicobar and are not found anywhere else in the world.

Concerns Associated with the Great Nicobar Project

• The project has met with opposition from ecologists, anthropologists, domain experts, and former civil servants who view it as a potential ecological catastrophe.
• It is estimated that around 8.5 lakh trees in GNI’s rainforests will have to be cut down for this project. These forests serve as habitats for numerous endangered species.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has given the green light to the project, however, environmentalists express concern over the impact it might have on the island’s biodiversity and the indigenous communities.