Faster environmental economic impact studies

The Minister of Environmental Affairs Marthinus van Schalkwyk has unveiled a new system of environmental impact assessments aimed at speeding up decisions on proposed developments. This is being done in the interests of faster economic growth. The government’s information service, BuaNews, quotes Van Schalkwyk as saying developers deserved prompter answers than the two to three years it has taken in the past. He says this does not mean that development and conservation will be separated. The interests of communities and the interests of the environment will never be jeopardized.