Swakopmund CEO speaks on radioactive storage issue
By Adolf Kaure.
The Swakopmund Municipality Chief Executive, Alfeus Benjamin said that the Municipal Council has not approved the use of Erf 3954 along Einstein Street at the coastal town’s Industrial Area for storage of noxious material by the applicant for rezoning, Namaquanum Investments CC.
Speaking during a press briefing on Tuesday held at the Office of the Erongo Governor, Benjamin said that Council is obliged to follow the same procedure for every application.
“The activity which the owners of Erf 3954 are applying for, is an activity that is listed as a hazardous substance facility and that means the handling and storage of this facility should not happen without an Environmental Impact Assessment study and an Environmental Clearance Certificate issued by the Environmental Commissioner.”
“Hence the decision by Council to grant or not to grant its consent will be informed by the EIA report as well as the feedback from the public,” said Benjamin.
This comes after an advert in of the local newspapers in February that the [owners] intend to use Erf 3954 to store noxious material, which left the Swakopmund residents disgruntled.
Erf 3954, Swakopmund Extension 10 (Industrial Area) is zoned general industrial, which land use is divided into two categories, namely Primary Uses and Consent Uses.
Primary Uses include activities related to Industrial Building, Light Industrial, Warehouse, Dry Cleanette, Laundrette, Scrap Yard, Building Yard.
Consent Uses include activities such as Public Garage, Service Station, Office Building, Shop, Place of Amusement, Place of Instruction, Noxious Industry.
“About the Consent Use that was recently advertised by the owners of Erf 3954 through their Town Planning Consultant, Council has not received the application yet,” said Benjamin.
“What this means is that uses or activities listed under the Primary Uses category is what the property is allowed to occupy, but activities or uses that fall under Consent Uses requires special permission by the Local Authority after certain processes have been completed such as public scoping and Environmental Impact Assessments.”
“The owner of Erf 3954 wants to exercise their right to establish an activity on their property which falls under Noxious Industry which means they require special permission or approval from the local authority.”
The Town Planning Consultant is conducting the public consultation which is the first step of the consent use procedures as stipulated in Clause 6.2 of the Swakopmund Zoning Scheme.
The Chief Executive said that since Council has not yet received a formal application and no approval has been made, there is no set timeframe for how long the process will take for a decision to be made.
André Faul, the environmental practitioner for Geo Pollution Technologies said that “no radioactive waste will be stored at Erf 3954 of Swakopmund’s Industrial Area.”
Geo Pollution Technologies have been tasked with making an Environmental Impact Assessment for the plot.
