17 Apr 2017

Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has started revenue collection for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA).

Environment coordinator in the department in the  Central District, Ms Tuelo Nkwane said with effect from April the department started charging for EIA activities.

She said as per the Environmental Assessment Regulations of 2012, review of project brief would be charged a fee of P10 while review of environmental assessment reports would be charged between P100 and P1 500 depending on the project.

Ms Nkwane highlighted this during a training workshop organised for revenue collectors in her ministry at Palapye recently.

Explaining EIA, she said this was the process of evaluating and protecting the likely environmental impacts of a proposed activity with the aim of mitigating negative impacts and re-enforcing positive ones.

She therefore said EIA helped promote sustainable development and minimised the adverse impacts of the proposed project.

Ms Nkwane said all the proposed projects were required to go through EIA as they would have impact on the environment and the people.

She therefore emphasised that every proposed project should register for EIA before implementation as failure to abide by the Environmental Assessment Regulations would lead to penalties.

Serowe -based principal accountant from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Mr Ofentse Seiphetlheng said the ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism introduced a legal framework that would oversee and regulate activities that had impact on the environment.

He said in order to conform to international standards, stakeholders expectations and principles of environmental governance, the revised Environmental Impact Assessment Act has provision for the environmental practitioners Association .

The authority, she said was to register all practitioners to enforce compliance with environmental requirement. BOPA