Reclamation bonds would ensure that mined sites are reclaimed, EPA
EPA to establish 35 district offices
Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Henry Kwabena Kokofu, has disclosed that the government has secured $103 million from the World Bank for the rehabilitation of abandoned mined sites and degraded forest areas across the country.
He emphasised the money would be used to reclaim and restore particularly small scale mining sites so they can be used for viable economic activities.
"So, we are going to employ what we call the three R's i.e., to reclaim, rehabilitate and restore," he said.
Dr Kokofu, who disclosed this in response to questions at the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, also said that the EPA was also working to ensure that all small-scale mining companies in operation would be made to post a reclamation bond before their licenses were validated.
He added that unlike previously, banks in the country were now ready and willing to allow small scale mining companies to third party account to post a reclamation bond.
The posting of the reclamation bond he said would ensure that small scale miners including the illegal ones whose activities destroyed water bodies and degraded the environment could be traced.
"We are trying to correct the wrongs of the past but you do so within the confines of the law and hasting slowly so that you do not add up to the messy situation in the subsector" he added.
The executive director also disclosed that EPA was working on creating 35 operational district offices across the country to ensure effective monitoring of their operational areas in relation to small-scale mining sites. Read Full Story
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