ENVIRONMENT minister Pohamba Shifeta said he may appoint a panel of independent experts to review the process under which the marine phosphate clearance certificate was issued to the Arab majority-owned fertiliser company.
Shifeta’s promise comes after an environmental impact assessment report seen by The Namibian showed that marine phosphate mining could affect fish sources.
Environmental commissioner Teofilus Nghitila issued an environmental clearance certificate to Namibia Marine Phosphate (NMP) on 5 September 2016.
NMP is 85% owned by Omani oil billionaire Mohammed Al Barwani through his company Mawarid Mining LLC, while 15% is owned by phosphate advocate Knowledge Katti via his company Havana Investments.
NMP wants to mine marine phosphate to make fertilisers, 120 kilometres south-west of Walvis Bay in the Atlantic Ocean.
Speaking to The Namibian on Monday, Shifeta said he will only appoint the panel if there are objections in the next three weeks on the issuance of the certificate.
“Interested parties are only talking. They should appeal in three weeks,” he said, adding that depending on the appeal lodged, he will then appoint the panel.
Shifeta said he cannot intervene if there are no appeals from the public as he has no jurisdiction to intervene in decisions of the the environmental commissioner, unless there are appeals.
“I do not want people to think that I am not listening to them, but I also have to uphold the law and not be seen as interfering with the work of the commissioner,” he stated.
The minister added that he will adjudicate on the appeal process in public in order to be transparent.
The scientists to be appointed will be independent, and should not have been involved in the matter before.
Shifeta defended marine phosphate mining last week, but insisted this week that he is not taking sides, although he added that the decision by the commissioner is correct until proven otherwise.
He admitted that he knew businessman Katti as they both studied at the University of Namibia.
“Katti is not my friend. He does not need to lobby me because I do not issue clearance certificates,” Shifeta added.
The minister said he is also aware of rumours of officials being bribed.
“Rumours of bribes will always be there. Some people are saying the minister is corrupt. The minister is not even involved in issuing the clearance certificate,” he reiterated.
Shifeta said people making those allegations should provide him with evidence so that the ministry can investigate. “They can even report it anonymously,” he noted.
The minister said there is no tension between him and fisheries minister Bernhard Esau, who earlier expressed shock at how the environment ministry had cleared the marine phosphate mining project.
“Esau is someone close to me. We were even together on Friday,” he said.
Shifeta also defended the part of the phosphate clearance certificate which states “this clearance does not in any way hold the Ministry of Environment and Tourism accountable for misleading information, nor any adverse effects that may arise from this project’s activities”.
Shifeta said that sentence is an international practice that is added to all clearance certificates. “It opens room for the prosecution of a person who gives wrong information,” he said.
An environmental impact assessment report found on Namibia Marine Phosphate’s website shows that the fishing sector will be hit by phosphate mining.
“It is reasonable to assume that fishing operations in general will have to be altered from the historical norm in the mine site area,” the report said.
Demersal fish species live on the sea bottom, and will be displaced by loss of habitat through the direct removal of substrate, the report said.
Furthermore, the likely impact of dredging on commercial fisheries such as hake and monk demersal trawl fishery, the hake longline fishery, the mid-water trawl fishery and the small pelagic purse-seine fishery is that these fish species are a critical component of the marine ecosystem, and may be displaced and redistributed by the digging operations and habitat disturbance.
The assessment also looked at the likely impact of dredging on fish biodiversity. “Dredging operations will result in a reduction or loss in biodiversity because of the actual dredging operations, the habitat destruction and sediment plumes,” the report found.
Another impact evaluated by the environmentalists in the report is the impact of dredging on seabirds and marine mammals.
“Dredging operations will cause the displacement and/or redistribution of seabirds and mammals due to noise pollution, artificial light intensity and the disturbance of normal ecosystem processes,” the report added.
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