Abstract

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process for taking account of the potential
environmental consequences of a proposed action during the planning, design, decisionmaking and implementation stages of that action. Follow-up should be an integral part of this
process. EIA follow up commonly referred to as Compliance reporting in India is the process
of monitoring, evaluation and validation of the outcomes of EIA. It is followed by
management and communication to the stakeholders. The main function of EIA follow-up is
to understand the outcomes of any EIA project. Without the follow-up the outcomes of the
projects activities will be unknown. It is a way of gathering information about the impact of
the proposed activities and the effectiveness of the project in achieving the goals outlined.
The objective of this study was Exploring roles of Contractor-Builder-Consultant in
improving EIA follow-up for Building Construction Projects. To explore the views of
contractor, builder and consultant, a questionnaire-based survey was completed for 30 projects
across 8 States in India. Data from the questionnaires and interviews was analyzed to find
information relating to current EIA and follow-up practice and the future for follow-up.
It has been found that the Status of EIA follow up in India is below par level with only
32.68% projects (523 out of 1600 projects) were found to be submitting the compliance
reports. It was also observed that the validation of EIA outcomes is not being done regularly.
It was also observed that the contractors are not involved during the EIA stage which results
in poor EIA follow ups.
It was concluded from this research that EIA follow up can be most effective when
combination of the contractors, builders and consultants are involved in the process of EIA
follow up. It was also concluded that third party inspections can play a critical role in
improvising and enhancing the effectiveness of EIA follow ups. It was further concluded that
validation of EIA outcomes along with root cause analysis of non-conformance can help in
effective monitoring, evaluation and management of Environmental challenges pertaining to
the project.