In News: A plan named the Sustainable Development of Little Andaman Island Vision Document by NITI Aayog for the sustainable and holistic development of the 680 sq km, fragile Little Andaman Island in the Andaman and Nicobar island group has raised concern.
About Sustainable Development of Little Andaman Island Vision Document by NITI Aayog
- Plan: To build a new greenfield coastal city, that will be developed as a free trade zone and will compete with Singapore and Hong Kong.
- Three Zones: It has divided the development in three zones:
- Zone 1 :Spread over 102 sq km alongside the east coast of Little Andaman.
- Zone 2:Spread over 85 sq km of pristine forest.
- Zone 3 :Spread over 52 sq km of pristine forest.It shall be a nature zone, additional categorized into three districts: an unique forest resort, a nature therapeutic district and a nature retreat, all on the western coast.
- Three Zones: It has divided the development in three zones:
- Transport Development:
- Worldwide airport able: To deal with all varieties of plane is central to the plan as a global airport is vital for growth.
- Solely jetty: on the island might be expanded and a marina might be developed subsequent to the tourist entertainment district.
- Ring Highway: A 100 km greenfield ring highway might be constructed parallel to the shoreline from east to west and might be supplemented with a mass fast transit community with stations at common intervals.
Challenges
- Lack of good connectivity.
- Fragile biodiversity and natural ecosystems: 95% of Little Andaman forest and a large part of it the pristine evergreen type.
- Supreme Court notifications on protection of tribal population: 640 sq km of the island is Reserve Forest under the Indian Forest Act, and nearly 450 sq km is protected as the Onge Tribal Reserve.
Source: The Hindu & NITI Aayog
