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Brighton Gumbo Business Reporter
THE government is working on reviewing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process and related regulations to facilitate the ease of doing business in the country.

Environmental regulations are a major component of the multiplicity of regulatory and licensing processes that have been blamed for making setting up a business in Zimbabwe difficult.

The Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate admits there is a need to remove such barriers to attract investment.

“The Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate seeks to review its Environmental Impact Assessment process in line with the need to promote investment and ease of doing business in Zimbabwe,” said the ministry in a statement.

It said in coming up with an EIA process that creates investor confidence, there was need to adopt international and regional trends.

“Taking into account international, as well as regional trends, the ministry, while encompassing stakeholder concern, is desirous of coming up with an amenable EIA process that creates investor confidence, at the same time balancing with the need to promote polluter responsibility, in ensuring sustainable utilisation of resources and the protection of the environment.

“The aim of this review is to provide the ministry with guidance as to current market trends and public opinion on the EIA process, with the ultimate goal of amending the relevant statutory instrument so that the process links economic development to the ease of doing business framework,” read the statement.

An EIA certification is required for all investment projects that are listed in the first schedule of the Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27].

The EIA informs the process of decision-making by identifying the potentially significant environmental effects and risks of development proposals and projects.

“The process involves submission of a prospectus and an EIA report for review. The required fees, as listed in the first schedule are payable upon submission of required documents,” the ministry said.

According to the Environment Management Agency (EMA) the cost of approval of an EIA report is 1,5 percent of the total cost of the project.

The review team is drawn from the environmental authority, which assesses the adequacy and quality of the report.

The review checks whether all relevant and sufficient stakeholders have been consulted during the compilation of the report.

EMA says the response for an EIA review can take up to 60 days and for the prospectus it takes 20 days.

Usually competent staff gives response well before the review set times prescribed by the law.

However, EMA says in the process of approval so many factors come to play such as lack of clarity and incomplete information which leads to late approval.

EIA is a planning tool used to identify, predict, and assess potential impacts (either negative or positive) that may arise from planned projects, and come up with ways with which to minimise negative impacts and enhance positive ones.

It was designed to predict environmental impacts at an early stage in project planning and design, find ways and means to reduce adverse impacts, shape projects to suit the local environment and present the predictions and options to decision-makers.