New Mauritius Hotels Limited Resort Hotel at Les Salines, Rivière Noire Environmental Impact Assessment

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1 Resort Hotel at Les Salines, Rivière Noire Beachcomber/EIA/01 Issue 21 December 2017 This report takes into account the particular instructions and requirements of our client. It is not intended for and should not be relied upon by any third party and no responsibility is undertaken to any third party. Job number Arup SIGMA Ltd Bagatelle Office Park Bagatelle Mauritius

2 Non Technical Summary New Mauritius Hotels Ltd intends to implement a new luxury Resort Hotel at Les Salines, in the district of the Black River in the South West of Mauritius. The site earmarked for the development of an overall extent of 17ha1177m² including both Pas Géométriques and freehold land. The Masterplan prepared by J.F.A Architects comprises of: 270 No. hotel rooms in 5 No. G+2 Room blocks 60 Beachcomber Branded Apartments, mix of 2 and 3 bedrooms (150 rooms total) Central Area with facilities with a Porte Cochère, lobby, reception / guest services, lounge, retail, bar, restaurant / dining area, etc. Kids Club Spa Beach Club Back of House area including kitchens, stores, offices and staff facilities. Sports Centre Technical Areas incorporating HV/LV transformers, backup generators, diesel storage, PV power generation, waste water treatment plant, irrigation tank, firefighting tank, desalination plant, potable water tank, centralised cooling plant, solid waste management/ recycling facility, maintenance buildings and associated facilities Site wide infrastructure including access roads, storm water management, hot and cold water distribution, wastewater collection network, power distribution, data network, cooling network and associated facilities. A large inland bathing lagoon with a footprint of approximately 1.7Ha utilising state-of-the-art technology that enables crystals clear lagoons to be constructed over large areas, thus transforming the site into an idyllic beach paradise As part of the proposed Beachcomber Resort Hotel works, New Mauritius Hotels Ltd also wishes to: Clean a stretch of beach at the southern end of the site. This will be confined to an area of least sensitivity, and will not impact on any areas of sea grass Install a 100m long T-shape jetty to provide boat access to the lagoon; constructed on driven metal piles with a timber deck. Install two numbers 10m x 10m floating pontoons for water sports activities in the lagoon. These shall be of the Candock type anchored to the sea bed. Install 10Nos. fixed mooring anchored to the sea-bed. To minimise the risk of boat operators damaging the seabed by dropping anchors indiscriminately. Implement conservation areas incorporating; tidal wetlands, native coastal forest, restored coastal dunes and operational salt pans. This will incorporate a Page 3

3 Wetland Management Plan to ensure the enhancement and protection of the ecological function of the area. The footprint of the resort hotel is 27701m². The site earmarked for the development is 17h1177m²; the plot coverage ratio is therefore 16%. The purpose of this (EIA) is to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed Resort Hotel and identify appropriate mitigating measures in pursuit of an EIA Licence. From the provision of all statutory approvals, it is anticipated that the construction of the Beachcomber Resort Hotel shall commence mid-june Methodology The baseline environment, constraints and opportunities have been established for the existing site. As part of the EIA Exercise, baseline data has been acquired by: Mr. Rishi Dev PERSAND, marine biologist has been appointed to carry out a marine biota survey of the area of the proposed works and its immediate vicinity. Mr. Pierre Baissac has been appointed to provide with fauna and flora survey of the site earmarked for the construction of the Beachcomber Resort Hotel. Mr. Baissac shall also be working on the implementation of conservation areas incorporating; tidal wetlands, native coastal forest and restoration of the coastal dunes. The Master Plan and technical design of the proposed Resort Hotel have been described taking into account the mitigating actions necessary to reduce the environmental impacts to a reasonable minimum. A systematic approach have been adopted using professional judgment to allow the significance of each impact to be assessed. Conclusion The direct negative impacts at Construction and Operation stages to the local environment have been reviewed through the Environment Impact Assessment and appropriate mitigating measures have been provided to reduce if not eliminated those impacts. The impacts and their mitigating measures are detailed below. At Conceptual: Ecological Conservation Area: New Mauritius Hotels Ltd recognises the importance of developing the site in harmony with its existing environment and to pursue opportunities to develop the biodiversity of the area with natural amenities for both visitor and the wider public. As such, New Mauritius Hotels Ltd intends to put in a place a programme to develop conservation areas within the site and on adjacent land around the site (also owned by New Mauritius Hotels Ltd) that shall incorporate: Restored portions of coastal sand dune Creation of a new wetland system Page 4

4 Establishment of a native coastal forest and; Operational salt pans for historical reference At Construction Stage: Generation of solid wastes degradable and non-degradable. This will be mitigated by collection by an authorised Waste Operator and carting away to the agreed landfill site; Production of sewerage (biological waste) by Site Staff, the toilet block shall be connected to a conservancy tank and the content of the tank shall be carted away by an authorised waste carrier to Roche Bois Pumping Station Spillage of hydrocarbon on Site: servicing, and repairing of plant mobilised for construction shall strictly not be carried out on site, refuelling shall be in an area specifically set-up for that purposed, from a hydrocarbon tank mounted on a trailer, driven to site as and when necessary (no hydrocarbon storage will be allowed on site) Generation of noise from site equipment and traffic: The Contractor shall ensure that vehicle and plant used are in good working condition Generation of noise from construction works: The Contractor shall ensure that working hours are scrupulously respected. At Operation Stage: Production of solid wastes: the waste from the Beachcomber Resort Hotel, including the hazardous wastes from the WWTP (screening and excess sludge) and from the Technical workshop (paint, hydrocarbons, etc). New Mauritius Hotels Limited shall appoint Don t Waste Ltd to implement an integrated solid waste management plan for the hotel. A copy of the solid waste management plan is included in Appendix P. Collection of domestic effluents from the Beachcomber Resort Hotel for treatment in the Wastewater Treatment Plan to tertiary level, i.e., to final filtration and sterilisation rendering safe for landscape irrigation The Stormwater Management Plan: In order to minimise the hydrological impacts during the operation, the following measures will be adopted: creation of wetland area of 54,030m² to intercept upstream runoff, storm water network to be inspected and any blockages cleared; road alignments will be designed to ensure that storm run-off is not channelled into properties or towards critical infrastructure, even when drainage system capacity is exceeded Page 5

5 The positive impacts, with respect to social and economic aspects, associated with the implementation of the Beachcomber Resort Hotel are: Contribution to the Tourism Sector The generation of activity in the building sector for trades, technicians at construction stage, thus providing for some 1000 jobs at construction phase. Creation of some 517 numbers of permanent employment for people in the vicinity. Increasing foreign currency earnings and additional revenues at operation stage. Gilbert ESPITALIER NOËL Chief Executive Officer, CEO New Mauritius Hotels Limited Derick STEINHOBEL Director, RPEM Arup SIGMA Ltd Page 6