World Bank-aided Integrated Coastal project likely to be completed in Gujarat by 2015

AHMEDABAD: The World Bank-aided Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project, which plans to offer solution for better management of coastal zone, is likely to be concluded in the state by 2015.

The pilot project, that has been unveiled along with similar ones in West Bengal and Orissa, will also enable Jamnagar being improvement in the underground sewage network along with establishing a water treatment plant of 71-million litres a day (MLD) and also help proper sanitation for over five- lakh population of the coastal area near the Gulf of Kutch.

Moreover, it will also help bring improvement in the water quality of the Gulf of Kutch via the discharge of treated water, stated Dr SK Nanda, Principal Secretary, Forest and Environment, Gujarat.

According to the project, for the first time ever coral transplantation will be adopted in an area of 2,000-sq km and also mangrove plantation in 15,000 hectares, setting up of Rs 100-crore sewage treatment plant in Jamnagar, eco-tourism development in the Gulf of Kutch, and establishing of a national-level institute for marine biodiversity.

Furthermore, the pilot project is being implemented by the Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC), which is the State Project Management Unit (SPMU). Almost two-crore people, out of the State's population of 5.5 crore, live near the 1,600-km-long coastline in Gujarat.

The three-pilot projects of Gujarat, West Bengal and Orissa, which together consist of an outlay of almost Rs 830 crore, will witness later expansion to consist all the nine coastal states in India.

The 60% of the funds for the project has been provided by the World Bank and the Centre and the State governments have offered 30% and 10% funding respectively.