12 Mar 2019

The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism is currently reviewing the Environmental Assessment Act of 2020 with a view to streamline the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process and reduce the timelines. Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Mr Kitso Makaila said as part of the review process, his ministry intended to categorise activities requiring assessment into basic assessment for small-scale projects which would take less time and would be less expensive to undertake as opposed to detailed assessments which would be undertaken for larger projects with potential environmental impacts.

That notwithstanding, Mr Mokaila highlighted that whilst his ministry would endeavour through legislative review to simplify assessments, the cost of an assessment was a contractual agreement between the practitioner and the developer. Member of Parliament for Mochudi East, Mr Moagi Molebatsi had asked the minister what he intended to do about the EIA requirements which seemed taxing and costly to Batswana who aspired to do burrow pit or small-scale mining of sand quarry. “I cannot at this point, Madam Speaker, confirm which projects will qualify for basic assessment since they will be determined as part of the legislative review, but what I can confirm is that burrow pits, sand mining and quarries will be considered together with other activities during the project classification in the revised act,” he said. ends