APPLICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE ON THE SITING OF FILLING STATIONS IN WA MUNICIPAL

Abstract

The application of appropriate EIA procedure on the various environmental categories is imperative for realizing quality and sustainable environment at all levels. This could be achieved through effective collaboration among the key actors or stakeholders and clear delineation of roles and responsibilities assigned to the respective players who are mandated to ensuring the realization of this course. This research assessed the application of EIA procedure on siting filling stations in the Wa Municipality. The research applied a mixed method design and used mainly interviews, observation and sample survey in the collection of data. The research established that there was no collective agreement among environmental institutions on the EIA procedure for filling stations projects. There was also low collaboration among these institutions especially at the sub technical committee level. Another finding was that the level of public participation in the procedure was low. There were lapses in safety practices at filling stations and sanctions were poorly meted out for non-compliance. The research also revealed a number of adverse impacts of filling stations on environmental components with varied degrees of severity. The environmental institutions were confronted with a number of challenges in applying the EIA procedure on siting of filling stations in the Wa Municipality. Almost the entire municipality had not been zoned due to the expensive nature of schemes and developers did fail to comply with the few schemes in suburbs that had them. The research recommended that filling stations projects should be included in category "A" of environmental categories on which scoping could be conducted considering the volatile nature and severe consequences on the environmental components. Key environmental actors should strengthen the forms of collaboration to ensure effective application of the EIA procedure in filling stations construction.