Revised regulations aimed at making the processing of environmental impact assessment (EIA) applications ”quicker, simpler and better” were unveiled by Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Wednesday.
Among the important features of the new regulations — to be promulgated in the Government Gazette on Friday, and set to come into effect on July 1 this year — is the introduction of compulsory timeframes.
”Under the new regulations, authorities will be obliged to deliver within 14 days for purely administrative actions, within 45 days for review and decision-making on minor reports, and [within] between 60 and 105 days for review and decision-making on complex reports,” Van Schalkwyk announced.
He told reporters in Pretoria another big change is the reworking of activities dividing an EIA into nine ”thematic areas”, including property development, energy generation and industrial activities.
These have been further divided into two schedules based on the nature and associated risk of the activity.
”Those in Schedule 1, such as transformation of land to develop residential areas larger than three hectares, will now be subject to only a basic assessment process, while those in Schedule 2, like power stations, will require a thorough assessment process (scoping and EIA).”
Van Schalkwyk said processing of EIAs is currently bogged down by the number of relatively minor applications that need processing, and the process ”was not as streamlined as it could be”.
”We don’t want to spend our energy on relatively minor applications.”
Since EIA regulations were introduced in 1997, provincial and national government has received more than 43 600 separate applications, of which 6,5% have taken more than two years to process, and some ”more than three years”.
”That is unacceptable,” Van Schalkwyk said.
Developers making huge investments are entitled to an answer on their applications within a reasonable time, he said.
Environmental affairs’ deputy director general of environment quality and protection, Joanne Yawitch, told the briefing the department held ”extensive consultations” with the Interim Certification Board, a body representing EIA practitioners.
The department is encouraging the establishment of a regulatory authority for the industry, including a certification process and code of conduct.
Once in place — ”some time in 2007” — only registered practitioners will be allowed to do EIAs, and the regulations will be amended accordingly.
Earlier, Van Schalkwyk said the ”content, quality and independence of EIAs was sometimes problematic”.
Referring to the fact that developers appoint and pay practitioners to carry out EIAs, he said the government wants a system that is properly regulated and managed.
”This is a major problem that we would like to sort out once and for all … If we are not satisfied, we will regulate for that profession,” he warned.
Yawitch said new regulations relating to mining activities will only come into effect on April 1 next year. The delay is due to the government needing time to integrate them with other existing laws. — Sapa