Environment Cell

Environment Cell was established by Gujarat Maritime Board during 1998. It is first of its own kind among all State Maritime Boards and Port Trusts across the country. The Green way of assessment of the any port project is the " projects which are not proved environmentally sustainable do not also remain commercially viable any more.” Thus, the projects which are taken up by GMB is reviewed by Environment Cell based on this principle.

The main objective of GMB is to Preserve, Protect and Conserve the coastal and marine environment while developing and maintaining ports and port led infrastructure in Gujarat which Environment Cell try to fulfill as per existing regulatory framework. i.e First of all, while planning of any project, negative impacts on prevailing environment are to be avoided, if such impacts could not be avoided, planning is done to minimize the impacts, in case minimization of the adverse impacts are not possible, compensation to balance to negative impacts are reviewed, if compensation is also not possible then projects are subject to either drop or change in location with the same exercise of minimization, mitigation and elimination approach.

Major Tasks

• Commissioning Environment Impact Assessment studies and obtaining Environment and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearances for port and ports infrastructure.
• Preparing and upgrading the Environment Management Plan for ports, Ship Recycling Yard and Ship Building yards.
• Commissioning various scientific studies to understand complex problems for evolving better environment management to cater sustainable development of Coastal regions.

Environment Management