$370m biofuels project halted
2008-07-13 14:01
Nairobi - A Kenyan court has temporarily
halted a $370m sugar and biofuels project in a coastal
wetland that conservation groups warned would threaten wildlife
and local livelihoods.
The government and the country's biggest sugar miller,
Mumias, wants to plant cane on 20 000 hectares in the Tana River Delta to create jobs and plug an annual 200 000-ton sugar deficit.
But the Malindi High Court ruled on Friday that
environmentalists and groups representing local livestock
keepers could apply for a judicial review, according to a copy
of the order seen by Reuters on Sunday.
"This decision will make supporters of the project reflect
on some of the issues raised at the public hearings," said Steve
Itela, director of Kenyan campaigners Youth for Conservation.
"This should never have needed to go to court."
Kenya's National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA)
cleared the project last month. But it has run into fierce
opposition from activists who say it threatens 350 species
including birds, lions, elephants, rare sharks and reptiles.
They accuse NEMA of ignoring a study showing irrigation in
the area would cause severe drainage of the Delta, leaving local
farmers without water for their herds during dry seasons.
Mumias, which owns 51% of the Tana Delta project,
hopes to produce about 23 million litres ethanol - which is
distilled from molasses, a cane by-product - there each year.
It says it will also generate 34 megawatts of electricity
and create some 20 000 direct and indirect jobs, partly through the construction of an 8 000-ton a day sugar mill.
The government, which has a 30% stake, says the
project will benefit locals and that it has its full support.
Kenya produced 475 670 tons of sugar in 2006, and Mumias
projects that it will generate an extra 200 000 tons annually from the Delta project.
Mumias chief executive Evans Kidero told Reuters in an
interview on Thursday the firm was operating at full capacity
again after post-election violence at the start of the year
disrupted production and transport.
The company's pre-tax profits for the half-year ending
December 2007 surged 38% to 564 million shillings from 436 million in the same period a year before.
Mumias, which is 20% owned by the government,
currently produces 300 000 tons of sugar a year, 90% of
it from some 66 000 smallholder farmers.