Maravi

ECZ’s way of approving projects worry Chabwera

ECZ’s way of approving projects worry Chabwera
Written by Kabanda Chulu
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:15:23 AM

ZAMBIA Federation of Employers (ZFE) president George Chabwera has said the Environmental Council of Zambia is more difficult to local entrepreneurs than foreign investors when approving Environmental Impact Assessments for projects.
And Dr Chabwera has said the ZFE has requested the government and the labour movement to quickly meet to discuss ways of mitigating the impact of the global economic crisis on local industries.

Commenting on President Rupiah Banda’s announcement that the environmental protection and pollution control Act would be reviewed to make it investor friendly whilst protecting the environment, Dr Chabwera said the government should extend the review to the application of the Act.

“When carrying out its mandate of approving environmental impact assessments for projects, the ECZ is more onerous to local investors than foreign ones hence the need to revise the entire Act as well as its mode of application,” Dr Chabwera said,” because it is difficult to see fairness in how the ECZ applies this law especially that projects for local entrepreneurs take long to be approved.”

He said when the global financial crisis started hitting the United States economy, many developing countries thought that they would not be affected.

“The thinking was that we will not be affected but we are severely affected, especially that we rely on primary products (raw materials) and generally the cost of production is still high. But we believe there are things that can be done locally to prevent further crises such as closing down companies that will result in job losses, hence the proposal to convene a tripartite meeting among employers, unions and government,” said Dr Chabwera.

Labels: ECZ, ENVIRONMENT, GEORGE CHABWERA, ZFE

posted by MrK @ 11:16 AM