Energo Projkt to compensate residents
Sep 14, 2009
THE National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has directed Energo Projkt to compensate residents of Kageli village in Nakasongola district affected by its activities.
Frederick Kiwanuka
THE National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has directed Energo Projkt to compensate residents of Kageli village in Nakasongola district affected by its activities.
Energo Projkt, a Serbian firm, is rehabilitating the Kawempe-Kafu road and has a stone quarry in Kageli village.
According to NEMA, the blasts and flying stones from the quarry have caused buildings in the neighbourhood to crack. “The noise and dust emitted from the quarry are also a health risk,†it said.
Classrooms and teachers’ houses at Kageli P/S are among the damaged buildings. NEMA said the quarry was established without doing an environmental impact assessment.
“An environmental impact assessment plan would have provided mitigation measures,†Ronald Kaggwa, NEMA’s environmental economist, who led the delegation, said.
The NEMA delegation which was in company of Nakasongola District local leaders and top civil servants, criticized the technology which the Serbian firm is using to split the huge rocks and clash them into pebbles, as being ‘archaic’
The Energo quarry Manager Goran Brasnjo said they had excavated 200 cubic meters of rocks, using explosives and machines. He said they had confined the blasting hours to between 1.00 and 2.00 pm ,to minimize the inconvenience caused to the residents .He said they raise red flags around the quarry as signal to the residents ,each time they conduct the blasts.
Goran Bransjo said they had received complaints from the villagers and accepted liability for siome of the damaged buildings, but they will be compensated at the end of the project.
But the NEMA delegation insisted that the compensation should be immediate.“They want to compensate at the end of the project, but this is wrong they should do it now, “ Kaggwa said.
Kaggwa, also said the Serbian firm should working relations with Nakasongola local leaders and pay tax to the local Government, instead of dealing directly with the central Government
THE National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has directed Energo Projkt to compensate residents of Kageli village in Nakasongola district affected by its activities.
Energo Projkt, a Serbian firm, is rehabilitating the Kawempe-Kafu road and has a stone quarry in Kageli village.
According to NEMA, the blasts and flying stones from the quarry have caused buildings in the neighbourhood to crack. “The noise and dust emitted from the quarry are also a health risk,†it said.
Classrooms and teachers’ houses at Kageli P/S are among the damaged buildings. NEMA said the quarry was established without doing an environmental impact assessment.
“An environmental impact assessment plan would have provided mitigation measures,†Ronald Kaggwa, NEMA’s environmental economist, who led the delegation, said.
The NEMA delegation which was in company of Nakasongola District local leaders and top civil servants, criticized the technology which the Serbian firm is using to split the huge rocks and clash them into pebbles, as being ‘archaic’
The Energo quarry Manager Goran Brasnjo said they had excavated 200 cubic meters of rocks, using explosives and machines. He said they had confined the blasting hours to between 1.00 and 2.00 pm ,to minimize the inconvenience caused to the residents .He said they raise red flags around the quarry as signal to the residents ,each time they conduct the blasts.
Goran Bransjo said they had received complaints from the villagers and accepted liability for siome of the damaged buildings, but they will be compensated at the end of the project.
But the NEMA delegation insisted that the compensation should be immediate.“They want to compensate at the end of the project, but this is wrong they should do it now, “ Kaggwa said.
Kaggwa, also said the Serbian firm should working relations with Nakasongola local leaders and pay tax to the local Government, instead of dealing directly with the central Government