admin“As UCAZ, we met EMA and raised our concerns and challenges that we are facing as urban councils, especially in the area of solid waste management. EMA has agreed to partner local authorities as deemed appropriate from time to time to undertake any works deemed necessary for the protection and management of the environment.
“During the meeting, we also recommended that EMA and local authorities should work together to increase awareness and educate residents on their obligations with regard to protecting the environment,” he said.
Clr Chakabuda, who is also the mayor for Masvingo, urged EMA to review fines against local authorities on their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) projects.
“During the meeting, we also requested EMA to review their charges, which we believe are very high and not sustainable for development.
“We also noted that there was a need for EMA to capacitate UCAZ to prepare EIAs for local authority projects with a view to make them affordable to councils. EMA charges local authorities exorbitant fees for assessing EIAs submissions and that exerts financial burden on the local authority before the actual development starts,” he said.
Clr Chakabuda also called on EMA to engage local authorities in advocating for increased Public Sector Investment Programmes (PSIP).
“EMA should not only play a watchdog role but they should also partner councils in advocating for more funding under the PSIP. We are also saying EMA should suspend fines and come up with a jointly developed programme of action that is sensitive to the challenges obtaining in the economy,” he said.
In the area of solid waste management, Clr Chakabuda said urban councils were operating ageing plants and equipment that is already in a state of disrepair due to lack of capital funding for retooling.
“The lack of capital funding has also affected the development and management of proper landfills. We are saying this infrastructure cannot solely be financed by internal revenue collections from local authorities hence we call for collaborative efforts between EMA, Government and councils,” said Clr Chakabuda.
Some of the major challenges faced by urban councils include land pollution through illegal refuse dumping on open spaces, persistent shortage of potable water supplies because of insufficient supply capacity and frequent sewer blockages resulting in sewer streams in built-up areas.
“We have also noted that in some towns where gold mining activities abound, panners have intentionally blocked manholes leading to the overflow of raw sewage into adjacent streams. Such dirty water is then used by panners for their gold extraction activities, while in other cases peri-urban farmers block sewers to irrigate plots.
“It is therefore our conviction that the current thrust by EMA of fining local authorities or summoning them to appear in court will not solve the problems on the ground. In fact such actions by EMA are crippling local authorities’ ability to mitigate environmental pollution as resources that could have been used to address those environmental challenges are now channelled to EMA in the form of licences, fines and penalties,” he said.
EMA’s director of environmental management services Mr Aaron Chigona said there was a need for his organisation and local authorities to harmonise their operations and come up with an effective action plan to address major environmental challenges.
“Our local authorities are the custodians of our environment and as EMA, we want to ensure that they deliver a safe environment through jointly coordinating our activities. The local authorities have a mandate to provide a clean, safe and healthy environment for residents.
“We also agreed on mapping a way forward in addressing the challenges faced by councils and the need to complement each other,” he said.
The meeting was attended by senior EMA officials, mayors, town clerks and secretaries drawn from different urban councils in the country.
Online Reporter