The Observatory for studies and support for social and environmental responsibility (OEARSE) has, in a memorandum, called stop Inga 3 and asked the President of the Republic to sponsor a strategic environmental assessment prior to taking any commitment. This concerns not only the Inga 3 project but also all the other phases of the Grand Inga.
In this document addressed to Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, Tuesday, August 20, 2019, the opening day of the Forum on Electric Energy organized, under his patronage in Matadi, the signatories-activists of the civil society affirm to note with which the project Inga 3 is one of the priorities of the head of state’s diplomatic energy agenda, both internally and externally.
Nevertheless, insists OEARSE, the laws of the Republic of which he is the guarantor require, at the end of the Article 3 of the Decree n ° 14/019 of August 2nd, 2014 fixing the rules of operation of the procedural mechanisms of the protection of the environment , to sponsor the Congolese Environment Agency: « a strategic environmental assessment. »
The latter, recalls OEARSE, « is aimed at the prior systematic examination of the environmental consequences of a policy, plan or program drawn up by the State, the province, the decentralized territorial entity or the establishment public. »
This structure of the Congolese civil society hopes that any decision that the head of state will take as guarantor of the nation in the energy sector, should go in the direction of making the interest of the population a priority « the people first. «
« This is why our organization says STOP INGA 3 and asks you to stop all the initiatives going in the direction of promoting the INGA 3 and Grand Inga project until the preliminary realization of a strategic environmental assessment, » reads in the memorandum.
Also, she asks the President of the Republic to ensure the opening of a framework of exchange where the girls and sons of the country could discuss in a specific way with his institution on their concerns related to the project Inga 3 and big Inga.
And to insist: « in the energy sector, we can not help you to build a modern, peaceful, democratic and citizen-friendly state unless the guiding decisions of your energy development program take into account the balance between the internal need and the geostrategic stakes of the potential, of the taking into account of the questions of the social and environmental impact on the communities. »
Emilie MBOYO
