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Robin Muchetu, Senior Business Reporter
THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) says it has no mandate to license the establishment of fuel stations, clarifying that its business was to do an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, which is an end-of-line activity after a station has been set up and not the physical location.
This comes amid an outcry over the mushrooming of fuel stations in residential areas where they have close proximity to houses and schools with people living in these areas having made desperate calls to the Governments saying their lives are in danger, in the event of mishaps.
Mrs Amkela Sidange, Environmental Education and Publicity Manager at EMA said the Agency has been inundated with inquiries from the public on the proliferation of fuel service stations with an assumption that they are responsible for the allocation of land for this function.
“The Agency would like to set the record straight that allocation of land and general land use planning is done by the planning authorities, precisely local authorities who actually own the same land except in few cases where land is privately owned. The local authority is responsible for the approval of conversion of land use from residential to commercial as well as approval of the specific business operation. The Agency only gets involved through the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process since a fuel service station (petrochemical) is a prescribed project listed under the First Schedule of the Environmental Management Act (CAP 20:27) and should be implemented under an EIA licence,” she said.
The EIA is a tool that evaluates the environmental, social and economic impact of a proposed project in a particular area making sure that environmental concerns are considered.
“In this case, the EIA process comes as an end-of-line activity after the land has been allocated for the development project by the planning authority during which due diligence should be made on the appropriateness of the land for that specific function. The EIA is not in any way a land ownership authorisation process but a process to ensure that the project already allocated land by the local authority is implemented in a manner that does not harm the environment.
“In as much as the Agency is involved in the licensing process, there are other government agencies with a stake in the licensing process hence it should also be understood that an EIA process and licensing is not an EMA activity alone,” said Mrs Sidange.
However, she said this is a rigorous process that is very inclusive, involving all sectors relevant to the proposed project, including expert sectors that guide decision-making on the licensing.
“In the case of a fuel station, it is the expert departments from the energy sector that guide on the safe distance to be considered in the location of the project, as augmented by submissions from the fire and other disaster management departments under the same local authority. The Agency then triangulates this critical expert guidance given to arrive on the decision to issue the EIA licence for the project. The Agency can, however, where in doubt question some non-environmental issues such as the distance of location, however, from an uninformed basis, but submissions from expert departments will always supersede based on existing terms of reference in their custody,” she added.
On commencement of any project, the Agency is mandated to conduct quarterly monitoring of the project and in turn the project developer is mandated to submit quarterly reports to the Agency.
This way, the Agency said it manages to keep in check compliance by the project to conditions of the issuance of the EIA licence and enforces provisions of the law when the development is found in violation of the law.
Residents have raised complaints about the sprouting of service stations across the country even in seemingly hazardous areas, as they are too close to where residential homes are located, saying they live right in the path of danger if there are fortunate incidents of a fire or spillages of fuel into their water sources.
EMA, however, said they are calling on planning authorities to integrate environmental considerations in development planning and always take due diligence in land allocation.
“This protects the integrity of both the environment and the health of the public. At the same time, all prescribed projects should be done under an EIA licence and anyone found in contravening this legal provision shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 14 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or to both such fine and such imprisonment,” said Mrs Sidange. — @NyembeziMu.
