015-i. Advice on ToR and review: EIA for Gaza sea port - Palestinian territories

The NCEA issued an advice on Terms of Reference (ToR) for an EIA for a sea port in the Gaza Strip. Following execution of the EIA, the NCEA was asked to review the EIA report and subsequently a supplement to the EIA report.

Advisory reports and other documents

Significant details

The Palestinian Authority (PA) proposed to build a sea port to support economic development of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and reduce dependence on other transportation routes. The project was proposed for Dutch ORET funding.

An EIA was necessary for this project. However, a decision had already been taken on the site of the port before the EIA procedure was set in motion. The EIA report was intended to provide information about specific environmental impacts. Examples are impacts of the choice of the exact location, the port’s capacity and design, construction, maintenance, and activities generated by the port.

The NCEA was asked to advise on Terms of Reference (ToR) for this EIA. The NCEA's advice mentioned the following topics as essential aspects of this EIA:

• Coastal erosion north of the harbour;
• Impact of port ofperation on coastal environment and of possible sea based sand mining on coastal erosion;
• Contract guarantees for sustained implementation of measures to prevent coastal erosion;
• Inventory and rescue operations for archaeological values;
• Development and implementation of environmental and traffic legislation;
• Institutional and human resources capacity building;
• The claim of the port on scarce water resources;
• Relation between port development and development of the Gaza Strip.

The NCEA also recommended that the design of the port and the EIA report should be drawn up simultaneously, with adequate coordination between the two.

After finalization of the EIA report, the NCEA was asked to review it. In its advisory review, the NCEA concluded that several issues demanded further attention:

• Essential information on the risk of salt intrusion was missing;
• Important information on sites for the extraction of building materials was not yet available due to delays in research.

The NCEA advised that a supplement to the EIA report be prepared to include this information before decisions would be made.

This supplement was indeed provided, and the NCEA was asked to review it. In its advisory review (the third document on this page), the NCEA concluded that the EIA report including its supplements provided appropriate and sufficient information on environmental effects to allow for informed decision-making on the project. Some detailed recommendations for improval (but on non-essential issues for decision-making) were provided on the registration of ship wastes, sand bypassing, on transport of building materials, on chemical analysis of dredged material, on resettlement and on monitoring and evaluation.

Later, an additional supplement to the EIA report was published, addressing the environmental impacts of the pier under construction at the fishing harbour. A review of this supplement has not been requested.

Parties involved

Members of the working group

Chair: Dick de Zeeuw
Technical secretary: Reinoud Post

Proponent and Component Authority

Further details

Country: Palestinian territories

Last modified: 10 May 2019