The E Guard Environmental Services has carried out this Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) in August and September 2014 for the proposed Sanctum Inle Resort at the plot number (38), Maingthauk plot, Maingthauk village, in Inle Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, east bank of Inle Lake, Nyaungshwe Township, Taunggyi District, Southern Shan State, Union of Myanmar. Sanctum Inle Resort Company Limited which will invest MMK 10,000 million on the proposed hotel project is 100% local investment, aiming to carrying out construction and operation of hotel services at the above-mentioned address.
In accordance with the paragraph 19 of the terms and conditions of the MIC permit, dated 9th, April 2014, the Sanctum Inle Resort Company Limited has to submit the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report together with Environmental Management Plan (EMP) to the Environmental Conservation Department (ECD), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC). Thus this IEE including EMP was prepared and submitted in conformity with the provisions of Myanmar Environmental Conservation Law,
2012 and general guidelines promulgated by the Environmental Conservation Department (ECD)
of MONREC.
The proposed hotel site is located at the Inle Wildlife Sanctuary. Main power source of the hotel is electricity from the national grid with two backup generators for emergency use. Proposed hotel project consists of three main steps, from environmental conservation point of view, construction, operation of hotel services and decommissioning of the hotel after its lifespan.
The construction phase will take 24 months including 6 months of preliminary survey. Operation of hotel services will take 50 years and can be extended for another two times after which the hotel is supposed to be dismantled. The hotel project has planned to use and install up- to-date machines and equipment during construction and operation phases. The hotel shall abide international norms and standards, Myanmar Hotels and Tourism Law and other related laws, rules and regulations of relevant ministries.
The proposed hotel project has planned to create job opportunity for the local people up to 250 and other people from the region who can improve their professional skills and make themselves valuable human resources in hotel and tourism industry, through its capacity building process.
In all phases of the project, a few low impacts are observed whereas no significant impacts and unsustainable situations are identified. Only (29) non-significant environmental impacts are found out. During the construction phase, there is a low significant impact for discharging sewage and litter into the Inle Lake. Mitigation measures are to practice NO littering and discharging sewage into the Inle Lake policy, having alternative proper waste management system such as waste collection, segregation and proper disposal. During the operation phase, there is an environmental impact with low significant which is water resource depletion due to
domestic water consumption from the tube well. Mitigation measures are installing water meter and water saving equipment for control of water use. There is also low significant environmental impact due to discharging of sewage and litter to the nearby Inle Lake which must be mitigated by adopting no waste discharge to Inle Lake policy, installing sewage treatment plant and developing proper waste segregation and final disposal system. During the operation phase, there is a potential discharge to environment such as detergent, liquid chlorine/tablets, cleaning agents due to the use of chemical products for cleaning, laundry, swimming pool and Spa. This must be addressed by using secondary containment to avoid accidental leakage and spill and a wise choice of environmental friendly products (e.g. phosphate free detergent). In addition, there is a low significant impact which is noise and atmospheric emission due to transportation of delivered supplies and visitors to hotel which must be taken care of by conducting regular noise and air monitoring survey, use of proper PPEs and regular boats engine maintenance.
Regarding health and safety impacts, there will be a numbers of risks such as car/boat accidents during transportation, use of equipment and machines, probable electric shock hazard, fires and safety hazards such as falls from height, slips, trips and falls, falling objectives, manual handling, repetitive strain injuries etc… during the construction, operation and decommissioning phases. There are preventive measures already planned to reduce the risk of fire and also the machines to be provided are new with modernized technology including machine guards. Therefore the probability of accidents and electrical shocks are low. There are a number of actions to be done to mitigate the risks such as providing safety awareness training, first aid, free medicine, transport to the nearest hospitals in case of emergency, and personal protective equipment such as safety gloves, helmets, goggles, earmuffs etc.
There will be one Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Coordinator appointed for the following program strategy of “Plan, Do, Check, Act” for potential health, safety and environmental issues. It is expected that the proposed project have only minor impacts on Physical, Biological and Socio-economic Environment. All of the impacts are local in nature and can be easily mitigated through adequate mitigation measures and regular monitoring during the Construction, Operation and Decommissioning Phases of the project. The EMP is prepared to address these potential impacts through appropriate mitigation, management and monitoring measures. The Environmental Management Plan (EMP) which has designed as an environmental management and health and safety framework for all three phases of Sanctum Inle Resort is prepared in chapter 9. The environmental management practices, procedure and responsibilities are well defined here in to fully comply with the existing environmental policies, laws, rules and instructions of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. This plan can be divided into four parts as follows;
– Environmental Management Plan (EMP)
– Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
– Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP)
– Biodiversity Management Plan (BMP)
Environmental Management Plan (EMP) identifies the activity, objective, mitigation and enhancement measures, estimated cost and responsible person or unit. Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP) has to find out environmental concerns, management activities, timing, cost and responsible person and unit. The main purpose of Corporal Social Responsibility (CSR) plan is to secure social well-being of the hotel guest, employees and their family members, better community living and transparent and friendly relationship with neighboring communities. Opinions, feedbacks, desires and needs of local people recorded in public hearing/public consultation meetings are well addressed and incorporated in the formulation of EMP and CSR. Biodiversity Management Plan (BMP) identifies the biodiversity management area, objective, management activities, timeframe, cost estimate and responsible person or unit so as to ensure the protection of biodiversity resources used by the hotel.
This IEE has, in brief, systematically and scientifically explored all possible positive and negative environmental impacts of the proposed hotel project and identified the monitoring and mitigation measures on negative impacts which could be happened in three phases.
Download the full version of Initial Environmental Examination:
Share This
| Tweet |