THE Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) has re-opened the Chambishi Copper Smelter (CCS) which was ordered to shut down for allegedly polluting the environment.
ZEMA Principal Information and Communication Officer Irene Lungu-Chipili said the agency had permitted CCS to reopen the plant under specified conditions.
Ms Chipili said the agency would continue to monitor CCS to ensure compliance of the Environmental Management Act (ZEMA) and other relevant legislation and ZEMA would remain committed to preventing and controlling pollution in order to safeguard human health and the environment.
She said in a statement that ZEMA issued the environmental restoration order to CCS pursuant to Section 105 of EMA No. 12 of 2011, on February 11, this year.
She said ZEMA’s inspections had revealed that CCS had put in place adequate rehabilitation and operational measures to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions to the satisfaction of the agency.
ZEMA would continue to improve operational modifications and install online monitoring for gaseous emissions.
The firm had put in place logistics for compensating affected farmers and was making consultations with Kalulushi Municipal Council and other Government departments.
Ms Chipili explained that ZEMA received complaints in January this year from several farmers in Chambishi area of Kalulushi district that a variety of their crops had been damaged by acid rain caused by sulphur dioxide fumes suspected to have come from CCS Limited.
A joint inspection was conducted with officials from Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Ministry of Health and Kalulushi Municipal Council to verify the concerns raised by the affected farmers.
She said the said inspection revealed that there was a general visible injury to some crops and natural plants which could have been caused by acid rain induced by high levels of sulphur dioxide emissions into the atmosphere from CCS contrary to Section 105 (1) of the EMA Act No. 12 of 2011.
She said CCS was ordered to stop operations and put in place necessary measures to ensure that there was no further high level emissions of sulphur dioxide above statutory limits into the environment from the Smelter and sulphuric acid Plants.
The company was further ordered to install on-line monitoring equipment on all its stacks to continuously monitor and record emissions of oxides of sulphur and nitrogen in the control rooms by May 31 this year.
ZEMA further ordered CCS to adequately compensate all the people whose fields were affected by the emission of sulphur dioxide, after consulting all relevant stakeholders.
CCS was on ordered to shut down its plant in Chambishi on Monday for allegedly polluting the air and efforts to get management on the losses incurred proved futile as entry into the plant was not allowed and phones went unanswered.
… Corruption?? Just wondering!!!
ZEMA you are a very reputable org. Tho you concetrate on big matters only. You have vehicles but least reach out into the community where life threatening gullies caused by soil erosion have occurred that safety of houses and roads is not certain. You lets us get exposed to huge garbage heaps, rubbish pits are burnt and air get polluted daily. Alas, these are small matters to you, except industrial pollution. The other day a truck passed the L/stone CBD and left the city in dark fumes of smoke which took 30mins to clear, and no responsible Authorities cared, except to draw fat salaries, while the populace often remain choked and infected with respiratory diseases..
Be warned. Innocent Chimfutumba is a charlatan and a mole. Like a deranged vulture he preys on people’s character. He is all over the Internet sniffing out stories and writing gibberish about people and issues he hardly understands. Google his name and you’ll see what I mean. I have compiled his texts in both the “LT and ZWD. At times he wears the hat of a skunk, spraying his terrible malodorous smell. He claims to be learned. Read all his comments (How I wish I could display them). He’s a moron who writes in colloquial English—semi-literate style. Learned bloggers write well even in haste. His writing is best described by one blogger: “so many words with no sense.” His punctuation is terrible and typos aplenty.
Innocent Chimfutumba you claim to be learned. You can’t spell and your conjunctures are in a mess. “You have vehicles but least reach out into the community where life threatening gullies caused by soil erosion have occurred that safety of houses and roads is not certain.” My foot! “You lets us.” What crap! You can’t punctuate and use the comma properly and you capitalize “Authorities” in mid-sentence. You are better off writing in your “Angolan” mother tongue. Don’t embarrass yourself. Just shut up, you Zimbwi. Now I get it. I understand why you go after character and not substance—you are an ignoramus.
i don’t like the sound of this, u mean the adequate rehabilitation and operational measures ve been put up overnight? wasn’t it mailo wen u closed this chi ccs thing? i’m led to think otherwise, no offense meant.
It’s pressure from government that forced them to allow them to reopen.
I think this move does not inspire confidence. From the basic knowledge I have, pollution emissions such as sulfur dioxide need technologies which cannot be implemented in one day. All the measures capture SO2 and utilized to make acid or stored and dispose safely. ZEMA should explain to us the measures CCS has put in place. Otherwise I can smell a rat!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What is pullution ba LT??
He claims to have been in class with me. It is not true. He might have been in the same 1973 stream and not 1972 as he claims in some of his comments. He’s so damn he does not know when he graduated. I never met him in 1967 because I went to Chingola Primary School in 1968. At Chikola I was not taught by Cheeseman. I associated with him in the Young Farmer’s Club. Yes, the late Patrick Chibwe was in my class, but not Lazarus Chota. In Form Five, I and Patrick were in “A” and Lazarus in “S.” Ask him what form he was in. He claims to have been with me in the same class for five years. There was no Innocent Chimfutumba in my class. If there was, he must have been one of those dumb students with nothing to offer. What was Innocent Chimfutumba famous for? Anyone?
Ask Innocent Chimfutumba to table his qualifications and credentials. Let him give a link to his thesis or books he has written, then simply google my name and see my books and academic achievements. What a difference. Get off my back you grain-brain spiteful creep! You can’t intimidate me.
Plain and straight – corruption. LT is the correct headline or something isn’t clear somewhere?? Just curious
The other day it is closed (though it was not even closed) and today it is operational.
So when did the Choncholis who have no regafrds to safety put up the desirable measures?
overnight?
Corruption and this shows how toothless ZEMA is. we warned u u cant site that smelter there, it was a wrong place.
I understand they have an acid plant next to the smelter, i assume the time they pluted the acid plant was not in-operation. Sulphur dioxide from the smelter is used to make sulphuric acid
And what measures have been put in place as they need to invest millions of dollars just to reduce this corrosive gas why can’t these people be specific or publish the results on their websites(as our journalists are too lazy)…something is not right here!!
They do have the acid plant which uses sulphur dioxide to produce sulphuric acid, it could have been at the time of pollution the acid plant was down hence the sulphur dioxide was released to the environment. It seems the problem they had with the acid plant has been rectified hence the releasing of sulphur dioxide to the environment has stopped
Hey, where is Innocent Chimfutumba to participate in the debate. He just spread his smell and left. Typical. He’s gone to another article. That’s what this Angolan chap does. I remember an Innocent in our neighborhood. He was from Angola. He used to bed-wet and froth at the mouth. His pee smelled like hell. Each time we did what he thought was wrong, he would run and report us to his mother. A Shaman visited his home frequently to check on his epilepsy. I see you are grown up now. I can smell you pee in all your comments under different aliases.
Yesterday it was closed.Today measures have been put in place.i hope corruption is not the measure that has been put in place.see u 2016
It’s business as usual nothing new. The multinationals and foreign companies will continue to operate, exploit the locals , damage the environment and make super profits which they send back to their home countries. Zambian politicians and senior government officials will receive kick backs and taxes and the common Zambian will remain with a destroyed environment and illnesses resulting from the pollution. Zambian government does not have the B.A.L.L.S to shut down these companies.