New Delhi, Sept. 23 -- The Centre has doubled the validity of environmental clearances for ports, harbours, and related projects to 20 years, easing a regulatory constraint on infrastructure projects that can take years to build and operationalize. The new rules also allow two further extensions of up to five years each, subject to environmental scrutiny.

The changes, notified by the environment ministry on Monday, amend the 2006 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification that governs the country's environmental-clearance process. Here's what changes and why it matters.

The Centre has doubled the validity of environmental clearances for ports, harbours, breakwaters and dredging projects from 10 years to 20 years.

The clearance ca...