NEMA Fines Investor UGX 50M For Land Filling a Wetland
- The Encroached wetland has been identified as Mayanja-Kato wetland.
- it is part of the greater Lubigi wetland system, the largest in Kampala.
Image: Moses kidandi--Capital FM
A Chinese investor has been fined 50 million shillings for invading and land filling a wetland at Nsangi in the central district of wakiso.
Mayanja-Kato is part of the greater Lubigi wetland system, the largest in Kampala and drains Mulago, Kawempe, and Bwaise, and serves neighboring districts to the North and Western Parts of Kampala.
Uganda has lost wetland coverage from 15.5% in 1994 to 13% in 2017.
Of the remaining available wetlands by 2019, only 8.9% are still intact while4.1% are degraded.
This wetland is a critical water catchment area for the central region and is a significant source of water for the water-stressed areas of the cattle corridor in Central Uganda.
Image: Moses kidandi--Capital FM
Like all wetlands in Uganda, the Kato-Mayanja wetland has suffered degradation resulting from encroachment for construction, cultivation, and settlement.
NEMA stopped issuing permission for projects in wetlands in September 2021 and has been offering compliance assistance services to companies that were found on the wrong side of the environment law.
Through NEMA routine inspections, NEMA Discovered encroachment of the Mayanja-Kato wetland by Ice Love Company Ltd there by issuing restoration order, at the investors cost after fining them 50 million shillings that was deposited on a Government account.
NEMA's Executive director Barirega Akankwasa says the exercise for restoration will be overseen and guided by NEMA and the Wetland Management Department.