Dutch investor in court over wetland

Oct 25, 2008

THE Irish Ambassador and Uganda’s envoy to the Netherlands have expressed concern over the handling of a Dutch investor, arrested in connection with wetland encroachment in Kampala.

By Ben Okiror

THE Irish Ambassador and Uganda’s envoy to the Netherlands have expressed concern over the handling of a Dutch investor, arrested in connection with wetland encroachment in Kampala.

Ronald Scheer, the director of an information technology company, Collar-IT, was in July arrested on the initiative of the environment ministry’s Wetlands Inspection Division.

On October 7, Scheer was charged in court. The Division and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) accused Scheer of building a house within 200m from Lake Victoria without approval, and defying a notice to discontinue the construction.

However, Mirjam Blaak, the deputy head of Uganda’s mission to the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), this month wrote a letter, saying such actions could discourage investors.

Blaak said the Dutch government had contributed 60% of the total budget for the project, and blocking it would jeopardise future Dutch investments on projects in Uganda.

She said Scheer had started the project without knowing he needed approval from NEMA.

The complex, in Kawuku-Ggaba, is meant to house an office and a residential block for the company that scans and stores documents in digital form.

“Therefore, I am requesting that this issue be carefully looked into and brought to the attention of President Yoweri Museveni,” Blaak stated in a letter addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa on October 9.

He pointed out that, out of the proposed €750,000 (about sh1.9b), €111,000 (about sh278m) had already been spent on buying the land and constructing the office building.

Earlier, on September 4, the Irish Ambassador, Kevin Kelly wrote to the Uganda Investment Authority head, Dr. Maggie Kigozi, asking her to convene a meeting with NEMA and information and communications technology minister Ham Mulira. Several meetings that were convened did not yield an agreement.

Consequently, Kigozi offered Scheer an alternative site, which he rejected, saying he had already invested a lot of money at the first site. The company is owned by Ronald Scheer, a Dutch and his wife, Joan Kelly, an Irish national.

Blaak’s intervention followed unsuccessful attempts by the Uganda Investment Authority to convince the environment ministry to let Scheer go on with the project. Both NEMA and the Wetlands Management Department insisted that Scheer had to relocate his project and restore the wetland.

Scheer on Thursday told Saturday Vision that he would rather invest in a different country than relocate to a another site. The company, which he says is the first in Africa, was expected to employ 100 Ugandans

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