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So the soda ash plant is not a threat to the environment!
2008-04-27 10:11:57
By Deo mfugale
The debate on whether or not the government and its partner, Tata Chemicals, should construct the soda ash plant on Lake Natron seems to be endless, with the ball now resting on the government`s court.
The Minister of State in the Vice President’s Office Environment, has yet to decide and stakeholders are waiting eagerly for that decision.
Yet a lot is going on behind the scenes as we wait for the government to say something.
The Lake Natron Consultative Group, for example, has written to the Minister to update her with the facts because the latter is new to the office and definitely needs to get information from all quarters before she takes action.
On the other hand, the project proponents are also working hard to convince the public to accept the project for various gains.
It was not surprising therefore when an official from NDC, the implementing arm of the government in the project, was quoted by a local daily as saying that the project is not a threat to the environment.
He went further to say that the government was determined to make the public understand the benefits of the project.
None of the opponents of the project say that there would be no benefits resulting from the project but the official should have also explained the costs that local and international communities and the environment would have to incur in order to realize those benefits.
There is no construction without destruction, so the saying goes.
Telling the public that the environment will not suffer if the project becomes operational is therefore being unrealistic and misleading.
The NDC official should have recalled what had transpired at the public hearing meeting held early this year in Dar es Salaam during which representatives of communities living adjacent to Lake Natron spoke against the project.
Among their fears was the fate of their livelihoods, the safety and security of wildlife and the future of the lesser flamingos which breed on some parts of the lake.
Some of their arguments were also supported by representatives of the international community who had a more scientific basis for standing against the project.
Those who are following the issue closely will remember that in February this year, the Ramsar Secretariat sent a Ramsar Advisory Mission to Tanzania to look at, among other things, whether to or not to put Lake Natron on Montreaux Record the list of Ramsar sites likely to face serious threats, and whether to gazette the Lake into some protected area status or not.
The team would not look into these issues if the project would not be a threat to the environment.
Recently when members of the Parliamentary Committee for Land, Natural Resources and Environment visited Lake Natron they noted that construction of the plant could affect the ecology of the Lake and warned that any development in or around the lake would surely affect the lives of the lesser flamingo. The Lake is home to three quarters of the world’s population of the birds.
``If Tanzania doesn`t want lesser flamingos or other bird species around the Lake, then let us build this factory,`` one of the members said.
It is quite obvious that there are some environmental threats with the project. Let the public know both sides of the project instead of officials emphasizing only the benefits.
Deo Mfugale is the features Editors, The Guardian
deofuga@yahoo.com
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