Investors fined for Ruaha River bank degrade

DAILY NEWS Reporter in Iringa

THE National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has slapped a 10m/- fine to two investors in Kilolo District for degrading the environment of the Great Ruaha River and conducting illegal business near the river.

A NEMC legal officer, Benard Kongola said Tommy Diary investors was found to have planted maize and bananas within 60 metres of the river bank and Ndoto dairy farm investor was charged with conducting business without a Environmental Impact Assessment certificate from the council.

The Great Ruaha River is a river in south-central Tanzania that flows through the Usangu wetlands and the Ruaha National Park east into the Rufiji River. Its basin catchment area is 83,970 square kilometres (32,421 sq mi) The Great Ruaha is about 475 km (300 mi.) long, its tributary basin has a catchment area of 68,000 km².

It supplies 22 per cent of the total flow of the Rufiji catchment system. Kongola said the two investors have been given two weeks from April 24 to pay up the fine as otherwise they would face legal measures.

The Tommy Dairy investors was also instructed to uproot banana plants he had planted to stop harmful effects on the water source because cultivation of banana plants was not advised near water sources.

Kongola is a legal expert in a Task Force formed by the Vice President, Samia Suluhu Hassan to salvage the ecology of the Great Ruaha River which is facing acute environmental degradation. He issued the order and slapped the fine to investors when the task force visited the farms recently.

The government has warned wealthy and politically well-connected individuals against diverting water from the Great Ruaha River, the lifeline of more than six million people.

The Minister of State in the Office of the Vice President (Union and Environment) January Makamba, told the National Assembly in Dodoma that the malpractice has greatly affected the river’s water flow. "The government will take punitive measures to individuals found diverting water from the river for irrigating their farms regardless of their status or position," he said.

Mr Makamba said that because of environmental degradation, there is lack of water for the animals and plants in the Ruaha National Park, which minimises attraction and tourism revenues. Various attempts have so far been made including evacuation of farmers and pastoralists from the basin's sources of water but were unsuccessful.

The minister said the authorities had created the national taskforce to rescue the basin under the Environment Act of 2004.