By Irvin Muyumbwa
Government has instructed the Zambia Environmental Management Agency ZEMA not to issue any permits to foreign owned companies that commence operations before being legalized.
Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection Minister Raphael Nakachinda said such companies tend to be defiant of certain provisions of the law even after being legally permitted to operate.
Mr Nakachinda issued the directive yesterday when he visited a block making factory and a recycling company in Lusaka’s Makeni area both foreign owned, in the company of ZEMA Director General John Msimuko where the companies were found to be in abrogation of the law.
“When you want to enforce your regulations, they defy with impunity. The indictment is on your office as ZEMA to make sure that they comply. The mere fact that they commenced operations ZEMA could even give them permission to proceed already is a sign that already these are people are not ready to follow the law,” Mr Nakachinda.
He said even after being found wanting for abrogating the law at the first instance, such should not qualify to be given permission to operate because they would continue having the same problems.
And Mr Nakachinda ordered the foreign owned YLD Blocks Factory to cease operations immediately for defying an order by ZEMA for operating within a residential area without changing use of land regulations.
He warned that failure to abide by this order to cease operations will lead to criminal prosecution.
But proprietor of YLD Blocks Factory justified that their operations were necessitated by correspondence by a person they left to manage the business while away on holiday who informed them that they were given a go ahead, an excuse the minister did not tolerate.
Meanwhile, Mr Nakachinda also visited a Chinese owned Meizhu Recycling Company operating in the same area which was found wanting for defying a decision letter from ZEMA to comply with its commitment to the Environmental Impact Assessment Studies.
The minister said reasons given by company manager Gao Sung were unsatisfactory and gave them a directive that they rectify their anomalies with ZEMA, failure to which they would face criminal prosecution.
