GCZMA wants replantation of mangroves before highway project

"Public Works Department, which will undertake the road expansion, will have to make sure that the mangroves are replanted before they start the actual work on highway," GCZMA's senior member Dr Arvind Gajanan Untawale told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on mangroves here.

The Public Works Department will have to take paid assistance from state forest department to replant the mangroves, which are very crucial for the coastal ecosystem of this state.

Dr Untawale said the highway expansion project, planned with the fundings from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), would disturb nearly three hacters of mangroves plantation.

"This is not a rehabilitation but prehabilitation as they will have to plant the mangroves before starting the national highway project," Dr Untawale, former scientist of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), said.

"Forest department will pitch in with the required help for mangrove plantation. PWD will have to pay something around Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per acre to them," he said.
Mangrove plantations in Banastarim and Chimbel, which fall in way to Panaji, can be cleared for the project.