Nema orders Chinese investor to stop encroaching on L. Victoria
A section of rice field in Lwera swamp that was submerged on January 20, 2020. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Encroaching on the shoreline is illegal, and NEMA never cleared such activities, according to NEMA's Senior Public Relations Officer, Mr William Lubuulwa.
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has ordered the Chinese firm, Zhong Industries Limited, to stop encroaching on part of Lake Victoria's shoreline in Lwera, Kalungu District.
Earlier this year, the company began diverting water from a key catchment area of the lake to create more space for rice growing, encroaching on a four square mile section of the lake that stretches to the landing sites of Bulingo and Kalangala.
Encroaching on the shoreline is illegal, and NEMA never cleared such activities, according to NEMA's Senior Public Relations Officer, Mr William Lubuulwa.
“We indefinitely suspended the issuance of certificates and other forms of approvals for activities in wetlands on September 2, 2021. So, the developer [encroaching on the shoreline] cannot therefore be an exception,” he said in an interview on Thursday.
Mr Lubuulwa said the field operation team will soon be dispatched to Lwera to halt the illegal activities.
Mr John Kasule, a fisherman at Bulingo landing site, revealed that heavy excavation work aimed at enclosing part of the lake with strong soil barricades is still ongoing in the area.
"We are facing a dilemma regarding the actions we can take to protect the ecosystem. The degradation of the environment has also led to the loss of fish species and other unique animals, snakes and birds that have been dying whenever spraying takes place in nearby rice fields,” he noted.
Ms Irene Nanyanzi, a woman councillor representing Lukaya Town Council at the district, said she is going to ask the district council to convene a special sitting to specifically discuss the diversion of water along the Lake Victoria shoreline.
A police officer takes a picture of the rice farm as some grey crested cranes that were poisoned lies on the ground on July 17, 2023. Photo | Malik Fahad Jjingo
"Rice growing is ok if kept in prescribed zones, but Lake Victoria is a resource we cannot let go given the number of livelihoods it supports," she said.
Mr Victor Mpinga, the project community liaison officer at Zhong Industries Ltd, said they are simply reclaiming part of their land which was covered by water when water levels in Lake Victoria rose in 2020.
“You ask residents in that area, they will tell you that piece of land belongs to us. We are not that stupid to encroach on the lake,” he said.
Rice growing in Lwera wetland along the Kampala-Masaka highway by the Chinese firm started in 2015 on a commercial basis, since then the company has been expanding its fields.
However, the encroachment on Lwera has not only weakened the resilience of the wetland but has also exacerbated climate change scenarios such as flooding in the area.
The Kampala-Masaka highway, which is one of the busiest highways in the country and the main gateway to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, handling major cargo to and from, has not been spared.
The road is currently fractured, and a section of it in Lwera occasionally sinks in, sometimes paralyzing traffic.
