Social Audit

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L. Gan · 2023

Design and build of L. Gan Coastal Protection Project

Project Overview

The social audit programme conducted in Laamu Gan focused on the design and build of the L. Gan Coastal Protection Project. This project was proposed by the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure to protect and refill the severely eroded beach of Thundi Avah in Laamu Gan.

Under the project, in addition to excavation and beach replenishment, shore protection structures will be constructed. The project components include dredging the sand needed to fill the beach, constructing 2 groynes, and building a revetment. The upgrading of Thundi Harbour is also an ongoing project in the area.

For the social audit, several documents were requested from the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure. The ministry provided the proposal sent by the contracting company, the engineer’s statement, documents on the financial evaluation, the award letter, the project plan, and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Since the project was directly awarded, there are no bid documents, announcements, or evaluation reports.

At the time this social audit was conducted in Laamu, from 18 to 20 June 2023, no physical work had commenced on the project.

Key Findings

The EIA report highlights 3 Environmentally Sensitive Areas and 2 Environmentally Protected Areas located within 10 km of the project location. However, given that the EIA was conducted within a very short period, it is difficult to ensure that these locations will not be affected.
The island council has not been informed of its role in the grievance mechanism stated in the EIA report. In the interview, the contractor also described a complaints mechanism that differed from the one mentioned in the EIA report.
The project timeline shared is very vague, specifying only 6 months. Therefore, the exact date on which the project must begin cannot be determined from this timeline.