20 Sep 2020

 Parliament has passed the Environmental Impact Assessment (Amendment) Bill) that seeks to amend some clauses identified as unfriendly bottlenecks to investors wishing to do business in Botswana.

The bill seeks to amend the Environmental Assessment Act of 2011 to ensure that the assessment process was streamlined and turnaround times for developers to get environmental authorisation was shortened.

Presenting the bill on Thursday, Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Ms Phildah Kereng said under the proposed law, the minister would be empowered to grant exemptions from the provisions of the act in the interest of the public.

Other proposed amendments include linking the scoping exercise to the decision by the competent authority to request EIA.

The proposed amendments would also reduce the notice period for advertising from 21 days to 10 working days.

The new law would also reduce the time taken by the competent authority to approve terms of reference from 28 days to 10 working days. The amendment would also help to clarify the process and flow of steps to be taken.

Ms Kereng said the amendments would also reduce the period taken to deal with statements; the period for public notification and canvassing of comments or objections on the EIA would also be reduced from four weeks to two weeks.

The proposed amendments, she said, followed some identified hindrances on the current Environment Assessment Act that came into effect in 2011, which rated Botswana lowly and investor unfriendly.

She said the ‘doing business report of 2012’ identified bottlenecks in some requirements and activities set out in the law for which the EIA was mandatory.
“The report pointed out that the  current EIA process is lengthy for developers to get environmental authorisation,” she stated. ENDS