Maravi

Ichimpe Mine not ECZ-approved

Ichimpe Mine not ECZ-approved
By Gift Chanda
Wed 25 May 2011, 07:10 CAT

CHINESE-OWNED Ichimpe Mine, which President Rupiah Banda launched last week was not app-roved by the Environ-mental Council of Zambia, sources at the commission have revealed. The sources said ECZ had not approved an Environmental Impact Assessment of the project before it could kick start.

The sources said the owners of the mining project, Zhonghui Mining Group of China, had not submitted an EIA report for consideration by the ECZ, which President Banda boasted would create 1,700 jobs at the construction stage and more than 2,000 once it opened in 2014.

“We don’t have anything on this project and we wonder why it is going ahead because an EIA has not been done. We have not received the EIA report,” the sources said.

“It’s really amazing to even have the President himself officiating at a ceremony to mark the beginning of construction works for a mining project that has not met all the legal requirements.”

President Banda last week flagged off construction works for the Zhongui Mining Group Limited’s US$690 million Ichimpe copper and cobalt mine project in Kalulushi while urging the developers to be efficient and environmentally friendly.

The mine is expected to produce 35,000 tonnes of copper and 2,000 tonnes of cobalt per year once output commences.

But according to Statutory Instrument number 28 of 1997, a developer of any project is not expected to implement a project for which a project brief or an environmental impact statement has not been concluded in accordance with the regulations and the Council has issued a decision letter.

“This project was rushed with no ECZ’s approval, but it’s not the first time this is happening. A number of projects that President Banda has commissioned in the past did not meet all the legal requirements. We have really been under pressure by the government whenever they want to push a project they have interest in,” the sources said.

The sources said in the past, the commission was made to reconsider decisions not to approve certain projects which failed to meet legal standards.

South African hotel developer Legacy Group Holdings, is a classic case of foreign investors who started implementing a project without conducting an EIA when it embarked on a project to open a controversial new resort in Mosi oa Tunya National Park.

“Kalumbila Mine is another project that started without an EIA being approved by ECZ,” the sources said.

They said Lusaka District Hospital was another project that was implemented without an approved EIA.

In his thesis ‘Policy evolution in the Zambian mining sector’, Oxford policy management consultant Dr Dan Haglund said the presidency and government officials were too close to the mines, making it difficult for them to administer tax and other policies related to the mining sector.

Labels: ECZ, ENVIRONMENT, MINING, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:20 PM