Environmental impact assessments and other environmental management instruments are crucial components of development in South Africa. If performed well they can separate good developments from bad ones. They must never be procedural but need to be processes of substance genuinely assessing the environmental and social impact of development, and must apply the necessary ongoing monitoring and mitigation.
Both government and the private sector have said much about the need to streamline EIAs. In some cases it is true that EIAs take an unnecessarily long period of time to be finalised. It is with this in mind that the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism needs to consider whether his own office is responsible for holding up EIA processes.
With regard to the EIA for the new King Shaka Airport north of Durban, a project of considerable merit but also one about which there are concerns, the appeal process closed in early November 2007, but to this day, over seven months later, the Minister has not yet ruled on the appeals. Despite the delay, the construction of the airport is speeding along, undermining the integrity of the EIA process.
It is imperative that the Minister concludes this process immediately. The Minister is making a ruling on appeals against the development application of Acsa, essentially a state-owned entity. The longer this process drags on, the more it looks as if he is favouring an organ of state. I thank you.