KOCHI: A day after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) granted approval to the new Coastal Regulation Zone Management Plan prepared by the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA), the construction industry welcomed the plan, but the environment activists cautioned that the relaxation would lead to the destruction of biodiversity.

KCZMA member P Kalaiarasan, who attended the meeting on Monday, said the MoEF had accepted the relaxations proposed by Kerala. “The National Coastal Zone Management Authority will release the minutes of the meeting within a few days after which the ministry will issue orders. We expect the new management plan to be implemented within 10 days,” he said.

The KCZMA has prepared 87 maps for implementation of the management plan for 10 districts where the CRZ is applicable. Once the minutes of the meeting are approved, the National Centre for Earth Science Studies, Kerala government, Scrutiny Committee and the MoEF have to sign the maps which will be published on the KCZMA website and sent to the local bodies concerned.

The MoEF will issue the notification after the process is completed. The state government’s demand to include 175 grama panchayats in CRZ category II was not considered as the NCZMA said it could consider only proposals made prior to the 2019 notification.

“The new management plan is a welcome development as it has removed uncertainty over development activities in coastal areas. We had been pleading withe the state government in this regard for a long time. Many projects were delayed as the KCZMA used to reject all project proposals and we were forced to approach the court which was a time-consuming process. We have only a few waterfront projects in Kerala.