space Press Releases, News Stories

AIM (Agencia Informação Moçambique) News

But Tuesday's issue of the independent newsheet "Metical" reports that Environment Minister Bernardo Ferraz told Matola environmentalists at a meeting on Friday that the government still thinks that incineration is the best way of dealing with these dangerous chemicals.

This is despite the review of the Environmental Impact Assessment, carried out by a team headed by the Mozambican company Impacto, which recommended against using the cement factory.

Impacto suggested that the pesticides should be sent back to the countries that produced them in the first place.

The Matola group, known as Livaningo, was formed in mid-1998, largely to oppose the incineration project. Friday was the first time that Ferraz had agreed to meet the group.

Livaningo activist Antonio Reina told "Metical" that the group wanted to obtain an explicit position from the Environment Ministry. It hoped that the government would clearly indicate its attitude towards the Impacto study "which changes the face of the project".

The Impacto document is still a "draft for comments" rather than a final version, and Livaningo had hoped that the Environment Ministry, as the body which had ordered the review, would indeed give its comments. They were disappointed.

Nonetheless, on Monday the Ministry's general secretary, Francisco Mabjaia, told "Metical" that Ferraz has not yet taken a definitive position on the matter.

He said the Ministry was still studying the Impacto document but that, given the urgency of the matter, it would make its position known in the near future.

On Monday, Ferraz met with representatives of the Matola Municipal Council, which has also opposed incineration. Zelia Menete, city counsellor for environmental matters, said the Council wants the government to state its position "as soon as possible".

But she told the paper that Ferraz would give no date for such a government statement, nor any clear idea as to what the government's final option would be.

Matola residents are not impressed with guarantees that the cement factory is safe. On Sunday, dense clouds of dust from the factory made life intolerable for hundreds of people living in the immediate vicinity.

The following day reporters could clearly see white powder all over the area - on the ground, on roofs, on verandas, on trees and plants.

The first reaction of Matola residents was fear that this dust was contaminated with pesticides. However, both Mabjaia and the cement factory management insisted that no incineration of pesticides has yet started.

One of the cement company's administrators, Elidio Dinis, said the dust had come from a mixture of limestone and clay, and was non-toxic. Nonetheless "Metical" heard complaints from people who had allergic reactions to the dust.

Dinis said there had been a breakdown in the furnace, and when attempts were made to repair it, the limestomne and clay powder escaped and was spread by the wind.

He estimated that between 500 and 600 kilograms of powder had escaped. "These are situations to be avoided, but they can happen", added Dinis.

This incident is bound to increase the vocal opposition in Matola to any plan to incinerate toxic chemicals in the cement factory.