Uganda - Environmental Impact Assessment Licence

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Procedure

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a critical examination of the effects of a project on the environment. An EIA identifies both negative and positive impacts of any development activity or project, how it affects people, their property and the environment.

• EIA also identifies measures to mitigate the negative impacts, while maximizing on the positive ones. EIA is basically a preventive process. It seeks to minimize adverse impacts on the environment and reduces risks.
• The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) is mandated by the National Environment Statute (NES) No.4 of 1995 to administer the EIA.

Apply In-Person

1. Contact Individual Experts or Firm of Experts to conduct the Environmental Impact Assessment for your project. You should note that only registered licensed environmental expert by NEMA are the only ones licensed to carry out all EIA/ EA studies by law in Uganda
   • The project report can take a period of 5 days to complete and costs approximately UGsh.2,000,000.
2. Once the EIA project report has been completed submit hard copies of it to NEMA with the initial payment of 50% of 0.05% of the Total Project cost.
3. At this point NEMA dispatches the EIA report to lead agencies for review.
4. If the EIA project report is approved, the proponent will obtain a notice for gazettement from NEMA.
5. At this point NEMA shall publish in two successive weeks in the Uganda Gazette and a newspaper circulating in the area or proposed area of the project once a notice which shall state:-
   • a summary description of the project;
   • the place where the project is to be carried out;
   • the place where the environmental impact assessment study, evaluation or review report may be inspected; and
   • a time limit of not exceeding ninety days for the submission of oral or written comments by any member of the public on the environmental impact assessment study, evaluation or review report.
6. If there are no objections raised from the gazette notice. NEMA approves the EIA report and the final payment of 50% of 0.05% of the total project cost is made and the EIA license is issued to the proponent .On the other hand the EIA report can be reject with sufficient reasons.
7. After issuance of the EIA license, NEMA monitors and Audits conditions of approval on a yearly basis.

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Required Documents

• Copies of the project study report
• Payment receipt of requisite fees
• Dully filled application form
• A plan to ensure the health and safety of the workers and neighbouring community
• An action plan for the prevention and management of foreseeable accidents and ways of mitigating the same during the project cycle.
• The entire design of the project.
• Project budget

Office Locations & Contacts

National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) - Head Office,
Plot 17/19/21 Jinja Road, NEMA House
Kampala Uganda
P.O Box 22255, Kampala Uganda
Tel : 0414 425 068 : 0414 257 52
Toll Free : 0800 144 444
E-MAIL: [email protected]
Website:Link,

Eligibility

• Proponents (Individuals / Firms ) planning to undertake projects which may interfere with the environment in general these include:–

1. an activity out of character with its surrounding;
2. any structure of a scale not in keeping with its surrounding;
3. major changes in land use.
4. Urban Development
5. mining
6. forest related activities
7. waste disposal

Eligibility to carry out an EIA study.

• Individual Experts or Firm of Experts registered by NEMA are the only ones to do all EIA/ EA studies.
• A register of the EIA experts is available in the Authority’s headquarters, District offices and can be accessed upon payment of a fee of UGsh.10,000.

Fees

• The project proponent pays for the entire EIA process.
• EIA Licence fees is 0.05% of the total cost of the project with a minimum of UGSh.2,000,000 with no upper capping.

Validity

• The EIA license is valid for 24 months within which the project must start. If it does not start within the 2 years, validity can extended for a maximum of 5 years.

Documents to Use

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Sample Documents

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Processing Time

• Maximum Processing Time: 90 Days.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites. 	
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Contact licensed EIA expert’s to carry out EIA the study report
• Submit EIA the study report to NEMA
• Obtain terms of reference approval
• Obtain notice for gazettement
• Submission of notice for gazettement for two weeks with NEMA
• Obtain approval if there is no objections after gazzetement
• obtain license from NEMA.

Required Information

• Name of proponent ( Person or Form )
• PIN Number
• Physical and postal address
• Name of contact person
• Telephone / Fax
• Email address
• Title of the project
• Objectives and scope of the project
• Description of the activities
• Location of the proposed project.
• Name (individual / Firm) of environmental impact management expert
• Certificate of registration number of EIA expert
• Address, Telephone, Email address, Fax of EIA expert.

Need for the Document

• The EIA process is of great benefit to banks and other financial institutions that extend credit to their clients. It is a means by which the institution can protect its investment by ensuring that the project fulfills all planning and legal requirements, particularly with regard to environmental concerns.
• An EIA is also important to ensure the safety of both the workers and the public.
• An EIA is designed to enable the environmental effects of a project to be weighed on a common yardstick with economic costs and benefits.
• EIA is good for planners as it enables them to make environmentally and economically viable decisions during planning and to choose whether to continue or discontinue with such projects that are likely to have an impact on the environment.
• It is a legal requirement for any project that is likely to have adverse effects on the environment to carry out an EIA. Hence any developer found to contravene the law will have legal action taken against him or her.
• The goal of an EIA is to ensure that decisions on proposed projects and activities are environmentally sustainable
• EIA also identifies measures to mitigate the negative impacts, while maximizing on the positive ones. EIA is basically a preventive process. It seeks to minimize adverse impacts on the environment and reduces risks.
• If a proper EIA is carried out, then the safety of the environment can be properly managed at all stages of a project- planning, design, construction, operation, monitoring and evaluation as well as decommissioning

Information which might help

EIA is a process of analyzing the positive and negative effects of a proposed project, plan, or activity on the environment.
EIA is made for the:

• Developers /Project Proponents;
• Project Approving Agency /lead agency;
• Public; and
• Private sector including bankers or financiers.

• If written for the public,an EIA must be in a language simple and brief enough to be understood by the ordinary person, otherwise it will not serve its purpose. Its purpose is to inform these actors about the project, its environmental consequences, and environmentally friendly options and why the project is preferred to those options.This may include studies on the weather,flora and fauna,soil, human health including physical,social,biological,economic and cultural impacts.It is one of those measures taken to ensure that development is sustainable.
• An EIA should be conducted before the commencement of a project.By studying the possible impact that the project may have on the environment,it is possible to eliminate or avoid adverse impacts or costs that would be met after damage by either redesigning the project or by taking mitigation measures.

Functions of EIA

• The primary function of EIA is to avail to both the developer and the authorities such as NEMA and the Town Planners, the opportunity to choose projects with full knowledge of their impact on the environment. It also enables the relevant authorities to decide whether to allow the project to proceed or not. This will save the developer time and costs that would have been incurred and enables him to develop plans and policies for the mitigation of such impacts.
• EIA enables developers and decision makers to predict and assess the potential impacts of the project on the well-being of the natural environment and also helps them identify alternatives through recommending the implementation of appropriate modifications / actions that integrate economic, social and environmental concerns.
• EIA can help improve the credibility and also portrays a good corporate image for an organization as an environmentally responsible organization to the general public including government agencies and employees. For instance, the City Pharmacy uses recycled paper for its packaging, MTN now uses environmental friendly airtime cards which when disposed of, are not a threat to the environment

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

• External Link 1
• External Link 2

Others

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