India's Andamans find economic development is no island holiday

PORT BLAIR, India (AFP) — The economy of the Andaman islands has withered since the forced closure of its massive logging industry two years ago, leaving it struggling to switch gears and find new ways to sustain itself.

Until recently there have been few prospects for development on this remote Indian territory, but a government push could see the islands reap rewards from tourism, agriculture, commercial fishing, and even oil and gas exploration.

The changes can be felt throughout the forest-covered archipelago of over 500 glistening islands in the Bay of Bengal, but perhaps nowhere more poignantly than at the Andamans' Chatham Sawmill, once the largest in Asia.

Founded in 1884, the fortress-like plant in the administrative capital Port Blair in its heyday processed an astonishing volume of hardwoods including padauk, more highly prized even than teak, that were hacked out of the island's forests to feed colonial Britain's construction ...