Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)

Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)

Luxury Condominium Project, Yangon, Myanmar

SLP Environmental consultants were awarded the contract to prepare the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the a luxury condominium development located in Thanlyin Township, Yangon Division, Myanmar.

The Project comprises of a high density residential development consisting of four 25 storey towers and two 28 storey towers with a total of 954 residential units and a Gross Floor Area (GFA) of approximately 114,796 sq.m. The towers will contain a mixture of one to four bedroom units and the development scheme will be marketed as Galaxy Towers. The development will also include a clubhouse and public plaza with an estimated full capacity occupation of approximately 4,800 individuals. The development will come complete with its own state of the art sewage treatment plant (STP), a groundwater pumping station with water treatment plant and a full capacity backup electricity generating station.

The EIA study was conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure and the Administrative Instruction for Environmental Impact Procedure prepared by Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) and cognisant of guidance presented in:

• IFC Environmental, Health and Safety General Guidelines (April 30, 2007).

The environmental baseline survey focused on the most sensitive environmental receptors and included; the erection of four air quality and noise monitoring stations, the collection of soil, surface water and groundwater samples for analysis at an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory, traffic baseline surveys at key ingress/egress points and a Phase 1 Ecological Appraisal of the project site area. The study also included the development of a socio-economic profile of the project site area.

A Scoping Study was undertaken to identify the potential interactions between project activities and environmental and social receptors and to prioritise these in terms of their potential magnitude and significance. Significant impacts were taken forward for further detailed examination in the Impacts Evaluation Study. SLP Environmental prepared a detailed Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan (EMMP) to ensure that the identified potential significant adverse impacts to the natural environment and social receptors were appropriately mitigated. The EMMP included an environmental monitoring and auditing plan to check compliance with the Project’s EMMP requirements and Myanmar’s environmental quality guidelines.