The recent proclamation by Environmental
Management Agency (EMA) on the reduction of Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) fees from 3percent to less than 1 percent of the total project cost is a
perfect opportunity for us to remind Green Fuel of the need to go public about
their EIA processes.
We are very much alive to the
fact that the company has perfected the art of brushing off criticism from the
public and the local community but it should be noted that this issue is too
serious to be brushed off considering the alleged hazardous consequences of
polluting community water sources by effluent from ethanol production.
Green Fuel claims that they have
complied with the legislative requirement of the EIA before the inception of
the ethanol project in 2009.
The Environmental Impact Assessment
involves evaluating both positive and negative environmental consequences of a project.
An EIA is a planning tool used to identify, predict and assess potential impacts,
either negative or positive, that may arise from planned projects and come up
with ways to minimize negative impacts and enhance positive ones. In Zimbabwe,
all projects listed in the first schedule of the Environmental Management Act
are called prescribed activities and should undergo the EIA process before
implementation
As was highlighted by EMA
Education and Publicity Manager Steady Kangata on ZBC News recently, investors
should now find it easy to fulfill the legislative requirement to undergo the
EIA process.
Platform for Youth Development
Trust has observed that most investors have either not fulfilled this
legislative requirement or have not made their reports public citing high costs
involved in the process.
The Chisumbanje Ethanol project
has torched the eye of a storm due to the alleged pollution that prompted
stakeholders including PYD to demand the ethanol project to make available
their EIA report.
EMA has previously noted that Green
Fuel has allegedly been avoiding the EIA process, opting for a cheaper route of
polluting and paying fine than to fulfill the legislative requirements of
carrying out EIA processes.
PYD therefore believes that the
Environmental Impact Assessment on Chisumbanje Ethanol project still remains
outstanding. It is also pertinent for Green Fuel to be open about its processes
as a way of building trust and professionalism which they currently need more
than anything. Gone should be the days
when the company conducts its business in secret because the outcomes of their
secret processes have often affected people as witnessed by the various reports
of death of livestock linked to affluent water from the ethanol plant.
Inserted by the PYD Information
Department
For more details contact PYD
Director on 263 773 010 331 or PYD Board Chairperson 263 772 896 458
