KOCHI: The State Wild Life Board (SWLB) has cleared the dry dock project of Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
The board cleared the proposal at its meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. The green signal from the board was required as it was proposed near the Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary here.
The project site is 3.5 km away from the bird sanctuary. The holding was lying as a waste land, and huge buildings have come up near the site, it was reported at the board meeting.
The setting up of the project at the site will in no way affect the eco-system and bird habitat of Mangalavanam, it was reported.
The dry dock will enable CSL to construct mammoth vessels such as LNG carrying vessels and aircraft carriers.
Trenching and removal of earth will also have to be carried out for setting up the facility. The proposal had been long pending before the board.
The project had earlier been cleared by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The facility is estimated to cost Rs.1,700 crore.
The new dock will come up in an area of 15 acres on the CSL campus.
