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dam-l Tanzanian diesel plant fuels pollution worries/LS
>From Environmental News Service.
Air Pollution Fears Fueled by New Tanzanian Diesel Utility
By Nicodemus Odhiambo
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, June 10, 1999 (ENS) -
Thousands of people living in Tegeta, 25 kilometres
(15 miles) north of Dar es Salaam, believe
their lives are at risk. They fear that a foreign company, the Independent
Power Tanzania Limited, has installed
environmentally hazardous machinery at its new diesel fueled power plant in
their neighborhood.
Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) is
both the first national and regional independent power plant in
Africa. IPTL has been contracted to produce
power for sale to the state-owned Tanzania Electrical Supply Company
(TANESCO). The company has built ten 100 MW
capacity generators at Tegeta as part of its electricity supply
project, eventually to be connected to the
national grid.
Flying in to
Dar es Saalam (Photo by Thomas
Lunde)
The plant was
conceived in 1994 at the invitation of the
Tanzanian
government when the country was going
through an
unprecedented three year long power crisis.
IPTL is
jointly owned by Mechmar Corporation Berhad of
Malaysia and
VIP Engineering & Marketing Ltd. of
Tanzania. The
capital cost of the project is US$150
million
financed by a commercial bank debt of US$105
million and
equity of US$45 million.
The outrage of
residents near the new plant is the latest in
a wave of
controversies dogging the Malaysian utility
company
including high tariffs that IPTL plans to charge,
once its
electricity is flowing into the power grid.
The
environmental controversy has erupted over reports
that the
facility could spew tons of pollutants into the air.
One of its
experienced employees Kent Johanson, a
Swede, says
the plant has installed two incinerators at the
site without
the necessary catalytic exhaust filters. The
filters are
mandatory to prevent the emission of hazardous
materials.
Johanson, a shiftleader with 20 years
experience, was sacked immediately for pointing out the irregularity.
The two incinerators under question were
purchased from the Wartsila NSD subsidiary in the United States to burn
sludge from waste petroleum products. Wartsila
NSD, a global corporation, is owned by the Metra Corporation and
Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A.
Johanson claims the method of disposal for
waste petroleum products is dangerous even if the filters were used.
"The exhaust from such an installation can be
very poisonous at times and [the technology] is absolutely forbidden
in both Europe and the U.S. "The exhaust
contains mercury, lead and other poisonous heavy metals in great
quantities" he explains.
"There are strict rules even when catalythic
filters are used," he adds. He says officials at Wartsila reacted with
indignation when he turned down an offer to
live at the site for fear of toxic fumes. He was sacked arbitrarily.
Officials of the National Environmental
Management Council (NEMC), the country's environmental watchdog,
reacted immediately following the reports.
Council chairman Reginald Mengi made an impromptu inspection visit
at the site to investigate Johanson's allegations.
IPTL's executive director James
Rugemalia (right) defended the plant
when chair of the National
Environmental Management Council
Reginald Mengi went to inspect it.
(Photo by Fidelis Felix)
Mengi also wanted to ascertain whether an
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) related to
the plant had been obtained beforehand. The
permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy and
Minerals, Patrick Rutabanzibwa, says he has never
seen an EIA related to the plant.
Information now emerging raises doubts that IPTL
followed the correct procedures before installing
the Tegeta plant. It is therefore viewed as
impossible to establish whether an Assessment
exercise was conducted as required by law.
Although VIP Engineering, IPTL's local partners,
strongly refute the allegations raised by Johanson,
calling them dubious, Mengi has ordered the plant
to send NEMC a fresh EIA report.
The company's chief executive officer, James
Rugemalira, who had kept silent at first, has risen to deny Johanson's
allegations, calling them fictitious.
Rugemalira is believed to hold a 30 percent stake in the Malaysian utility
firm.
He says the claims of imminent air pollution
are "baseless," saying the plant's only raw material is heavy oil
(diesel) whose waste emissions to the
atmosphere are "harmless gaseous substances such as nitrogen oxide and
carbon monoxide."
But Mengi said, "IPTL must send NEMC [National
Environmental Management Council] a copy of its EIA for
scrutiny to ensure that the plant posed no
hazardous environmental effect to the surrounding."
The plant has recently handed a fresh EIA to
the council. The assessment is mandatory and must be completed by
any investor wishing to set up an industry in
Tanzania.
A local environmental pressure group, the
Pollution Control Agency (POCA), has now petitioned the government
to compel officials of IPTL to explain how they
intend to protect Tegeta from any potential environmental hazard.
Speaking for the Pollution Control Agency,
Ludigo Mhagama has said oil from the plant is likely to spill into the
nearby Tegeta river and other water catchment
areas posing a threat to human and marine life. He also says that
fumes from the plant may trigger the fear of
acid rain in the nearby future.
Map of Tanzania and surrounding countries (Map
courtesy CIA World Factbook)
© Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All
Rights Reserved.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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