Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ezekiel Maige
This was said in Dar es Salaam on Saturday by the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ezekiel Maige, when speaking at a workshop involving his ministry and the Permanent Environment Parliamentary Committee on uranium extraction in the country.
‘’We face many challenges in the ministry like pressure from human development activities and the rising cost of storage. But the most challenging aspect is educating the people about the project. According to Minister Maige, this was a continuation of the workshop so as to educate people about the uranium mining project.
He also noted that a company called Mantra conducted the survey from 2009 to February, last year. However, the ministry sent a request to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) because the uranium is located in the Selous Game Reserve, which is among the world heritage sites.
So, it is necessary to seek UNESCO’s approval. The Committee Chairman, Mr James Lembeli, also said that the ministry should send mining experts to learn from other countries which already have similar projects so as to know the impacts and benefits. “I would like to advise the ministry to send experts to other countries so as to have them learn from their experience about the impacts and benefit of the projects,’’ said Lembeli.
On behalf of the National Environment Management Council (NEMC) Director, Mr Kamugenyi Luteganya said that uranium extraction will bring a lot of negative impacts like diseases.
‘’Uranium mining has a lot of impact to the people like diseases and the spread of uranium dust to the air would endanger human health,’’ said Kamugenyi. According to him, extraction will cause water pollution due to the oil and acid from the minerals as well as environmental degradation. The duration of the project is twelve years.
By JOYCE KABIGI, Tanzania Daily News
