The company owning the Vietnamese cargo vessel would clear the Fuvahmulah beach of the construction gravel that washed ashore after tons were dumped to re-float the ship after it ran aground in Fuvahmulah in August.
MV NGOC Son ran aground on the reef to the south of Fuvahmulah while carrying water and sewerage material to the island for Sri Lankan contractor Sierra.
A Singaporean salvage company had been hired to re-float the vessel which was forced to dump over 5,000 tonnes of construction sand and gravel to lighten the ship.
The Fuvahmulah Council said the gravel have been washing ashore ever since it was dumped and that it damaged the beach.
The local handling firm Centurion chairman Ahmed Maumoon told Avas on Wednesday that a local company had been assigned the task to clear the beach of the gravel.
The effort would be supervised by the foremost authority on reef and beach protection ITOS and would commence in the next three days, Maumoon said.
There were 20 crew members on board the 102.79 meter long 17 meter wide ship when it ranaground. No one was injured during the incident.
The Maldives government has granted a period of maximum one month for the cargo vessel to decide upon a compensation procedure for the damages caused to the reef which Environment Protection Agency (EPA) estimates to be MVR 633.7 million.
The Maldives’ Environment Protection and Preservation Act states that the maximum fine for environmental damages is MVR 100 million. However, the state holds the authority to approve larger fines based on investigations into damages.
It had taken a month to re-float the vessel. The vessel was being tugged to Sri Lankan capital Colombo for repairs when it capsized later.
