NGO says reef damage major loss to entire Villimale
A video posted by Save The Beach shows that there is still sunken metal pieces in the area.
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By
Umna Ismail
Save The Beach, an NGO advocating for the preservation of Villimale environment, said on Friday that the damage caused to the island's reef by the platform that ran aground on 16 August while being used for the works of Greater Male' Connectivity Project (GMCP) bridge was a major loss to the entire island.
The Self Evaluating Platform (SEP), used to drill boreholes required for the bridge pillars, had gone adrift amid strong currents while it was being driven to be anchored to the main hull. The platform had run aground on the outer Villimale reef, injuring three people on the platform when it crashed.
A week after the crash, local environmental NGOs, including Save The Beach, began protesting the delay in the dislodging of the platform, and the damage the delay could be causing to the reef. Lodged amid the sea rocks on the futtaru (the side of the island that does not have a beach and where the waves keep on crashing) side of the island, Villimale islanders said that the ceaseless impact of the massive platform crashing against the rocks can be both heard and felt throughout the island.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had launched their survey on 30 August in collaboration with the bridge contractor Afcons, and had published the photographs taken by the divers who went under. The photos showed four large, deep craters in the reef.
Save The Beach on Friday uploaded a video of the damage caused to the reef from the spuds of the platform. According to the video, there is still sunken metal pieces in the area. The video also showed metal debris inside one of the craters caused by the platform spuds.
After 10 days of continuous impact on the reef, these are the effects on the East corner of Villimale'. We are heartbroken to witness the reef so badly damaged💔 The decrease in coral cover is an incredible loss for the Island.@EPAMaldives @MoEnvmv @MoNPImv pic.twitter.com/kBEfFvCjwq
— Save the Beach (@SavetheBeachVM) September 9, 2022
In their tweet with the video, Save The Beach said:
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They are saddened by the vast damage caused upon the reef.
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The damage caused to the reef is a loss the whole of Vilimale' will suffer for.
In the past, Maldives has experienced similar marine industrial crashes and sustained massive reef damages caused by such incidents from large vessels. The EPA had been there to investigate such incidents, make damage assessments, and even imposed fines on the responsible parties for the damage that had been caused.
