Great Nicobar Project: Weighing Strategy Against Ecology

The Great Nicobar Island development project, now estimated at around Rs 91,000 crore, has drawn renewed scrutiny over the balance between its claimed strategic value and its environmental cost. The project includes a transshipment port at Galathea Bay, an international airport, a power plant and a township.

The government has long described the project as strategically important, using that label to withhold details of its environmental clearances. However, a Finance Ministry body, the Public Investment Board, reportedly found in 2024 that the port 'lacked strategic objectives', with the strategic rationale being emphasised mainly afterwards. An appraisal committee also declined to grant viability gap funding, asking the Ports Ministry to fund it from its own budget — an unusual stance for a venture described as nationally vital.

Great Nicobar lies at the southern tip of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago and is covered in tropical rainforest with ecologically rare coral reefs. The project would clear large tracts of primary forest and could disturb fragile ecosystems and the habitats of indigenous communities such as the Shompen and Nicobarese.

For exam purposes, this is a strong case study linking development versus environment, the role of the National Green Tribunal and environmental clearance processes, the protection of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), and the strategic importance of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indo-Pacific.