Dar es Salaam. Dust no longer comes from the Tanzania Portland Cement Company (TPCC) plant, the National Environment Management Council (NEMC) says.
But that does not mean the company has put its house in order or resumed production.
The NEMC director for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, Dr Robert Ntakamulenga, said the council got the feedback from the citizens surrounding the factory who had complained about respiratory problems and headache caused by the TPCC dust. The company trades as Twiga.
NEMC also established that no dust was coming out of the factory in some of its observations.
When travelling to Iringa recently, Dr Ntakamulenga said he did not see dust coming out of the TPCC factory which is an indication that the order was observed. “But this does not mean the company has completed fixing the faults and resumed operation. It is not,” said Dr Ntakamulenga.
“We’ve not yet received the report of compliance from TPCC so that we can inspect the closed sections and allow the management to operate the section.”
He said there was no deadline for compliance given to the company.
“It is upon the investor to ensure the cause for the pollution is addressed and submit a report to the council for inspection,” he said.
“We ordered the closure of the kiln system and grinding section which were causing pollution. Other activities like packaging haven’t been affected. We have been making a follow-up to see if the factory complied with the order.”
TPCC, which unveiled its plan to invest $30 million to more than double its manufacturing capacity from 1.4 million to 2 million and sales by the end of last year, was ordered to stop some activities which could impact on the product prices.
The company’s managing director and area manager for East Africa, Mr Alfonso Rodriguez, told the media the dust was coming from an old plant after the filter of the new plant got a technical fault.
He added that the factory has ordered the new filter which might take a month to arrive in the country.
But that does not mean the company has put its house in order or resumed production.
The NEMC director for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, Dr Robert Ntakamulenga, said the council got the feedback from the citizens surrounding the factory who had complained about respiratory problems and headache caused by the TPCC dust. The company trades as Twiga.
NEMC also established that no dust was coming out of the factory in some of its observations.
When travelling to Iringa recently, Dr Ntakamulenga said he did not see dust coming out of the TPCC factory which is an indication that the order was observed. “But this does not mean the company has completed fixing the faults and resumed operation. It is not,” said Dr Ntakamulenga.
“We’ve not yet received the report of compliance from TPCC so that we can inspect the closed sections and allow the management to operate the section.”
He said there was no deadline for compliance given to the company.
“It is upon the investor to ensure the cause for the pollution is addressed and submit a report to the council for inspection,” he said.
“We ordered the closure of the kiln system and grinding section which were causing pollution. Other activities like packaging haven’t been affected. We have been making a follow-up to see if the factory complied with the order.”
TPCC, which unveiled its plan to invest $30 million to more than double its manufacturing capacity from 1.4 million to 2 million and sales by the end of last year, was ordered to stop some activities which could impact on the product prices.
The company’s managing director and area manager for East Africa, Mr Alfonso Rodriguez, told the media the dust was coming from an old plant after the filter of the new plant got a technical fault.
He added that the factory has ordered the new filter which might take a month to arrive in the country.
The Citizen
No comments:
Post a Comment