By Prince J Musa in Kenema
As part of complying with regulations and policy of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Sierra Leone, the Environmental Social Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) in collaboration with Environmental Social impact Assessment (ESIA) has ended a public disclosure involving stakeholders in Kenema on the operations of the China National Technical Import and Export Cooperation (CNTIC) SMART in Sierra Leone.
In his statement during the engagement on the 8th July 2024 Rashidu Sinnah, a senior management officer of the company said the public disclosure is in line with the EPA law which states that any investor that wants to operate in Sierra Leone will have to do environmental impact assessment study and it should be disclosed to the public of their findings.
He said that the CNTIC is a telecommunication company that wants to operate in the country to provide internet facilities in rural areas especially communities that are deprived of the internet with the aim of improving communication systems. He added that the project targets nationwide as its objective is to connect communities and public offices to get access with internet connectivity.
‘’The company has put aside two billion Leones (old Leone) to support the communities and it will be operating for five years,’’ he said.
The Director of EPA, Alfred Tejan Jonidie told the gathering that the agency has put a lot of measures in place to prevent companies from coming and straight away going into the community to do their operations.
He said it is their responsibility to check on any company that wants to operate in the country so that they will tell the stakeholders what the company will be doing and the places they will be operating. He stated that the company should spell out the benefits the community stands to gain.
On behalf of the executive chairperson of EPA, a member of the board of directors, Dr. Alfred Morie Saffa expressed delight over the enforcement of the EPA policies to investors coming into the country. He said that as much as the country needs competent investors, there should be a structure that will regulate the operations of the companies so that their negative impact will not hinder the lives of the people.
He believes that the recent policies and laws that EPA is implementing would be in existence for as long as that would have addressed most of the environmental damages caused by companies in the country. He assured that the board will remain focused and constructive in ensuring that no company or investors disadvantage the people during their investment and therefore advised the authorities to critically look at the presentation from the consultants and ask more questions so that people will not cry foul during implementation of projects by a company.
Presentation of China National Technical Import and Export Cooperation’s past operational activities and development was done by the consultant and the director of solutions SMART project, Denis Ebo Quaye while questions and responses also formed part of the public disclosure and discussion.
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