S.O. 3552(E), Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011 Amendment

What the amendment governs

Notification S.O. 3552(E), dated 30 December 2015, was issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change after the Central Government examined objections and suggestions on a draft published on 25 June 2015. It further amends the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011, which was originally published as Notification S.O. 19(E), dated 6 January 2011.

The amendment covers the construction, modernisation or expansion of specified facilities along the coast, particularly facilities involving reclaimed land or coastal transport infrastructure.

Foreshore and transport facilities

Notification S.O. 3552(E) identifies facilities that may be required for activities permitted under the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011. These include:

• Ports, harbours, jetties, wharves, quays and slipways.
• Bridges, sealinks, roads on stilts and roads on reclaimed surfaces.
• Facilities intended for defence and security purposes.
• Other facilities essential for activities permitted under the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011.

A road built on reclaimed land does not by itself authorise development between the landward side of that road and the existing High Tide Line.

Reclaimed land may be permitted for roads, mass rapid transit or multimodal transit systems. It may also accommodate associated public utilities and infrastructure needed to operate those systems, including electrical or electronic signalling and permitted transit stopovers. The provision excludes industrial operation, repair and maintenance.

Approval and mangrove conditions

Notification S.O. 3552(E) allows construction of a road through reclamation in a Coastal Regulation Zone area only in exceptional cases. The concerned Coastal Zone Management Authority must recommend the proposal, and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change must approve it.

If the road passes through mangroves or is likely to damage them, three times the number of mangroves destroyed or cut during construction must be replanted.

Who may be affected

Notification S.O. 3552(E) may affect coastal property owners, buyers, project developers and professionals dealing with land near reclaimed roads, transport projects, the High Tide Line or mangroves. A reclaimed coastal road does not automatically make nearby land eligible for development, so the applicable Coastal Regulation Zone permissions remain important.

Meaning of existing

For the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011, the word "existing" means the existence of features, regularisation or norms as on 19 February 1991, when the Coastal Regulation Zone notification was notified.