The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has ordered Speke Hotel (1996) Limited to remove all the soil it recently dumped into Lake Victoria before it can be allowed to resume construction works in Kitubulu, Katabi town council.
NEMA made the directive after meeting with officials from Ruparelia Group which owns Speke hotel. According to NEMA, Ruparelia acquired a permit to build a hotel where Ssese Gateway beach was previously located on condition of maintaining a buffer zone of 100 metres as provided for in the National Environment (Wetlands, River Banks And Lake Shores Management) Regulations, 2000.
The hotel also applied for a permit to build a marina in the same place but NEMA, in a tweet on December 12, says the application was denied. Speke hotel manager Rajiv Ruparelia says they want to construct a resort and convention centre on Lake Victoria shores in Kitubulu.
The project is reportedly estimated to cost $100 million (about Shs 355 billion) with 350 rooms, a convention centre and a conference centre with the capacity to host 3,500 guests. The project is currently at the stage of ground levelling. However, NEMA halted the project on December 10, after a video of trucks dumping soil into the lake went viral on various social media platforms. NEMA claimed the developer has been carrying out activities without obtaining a permit for the developments.
The regulator adds that there were concerns of lakeshore degradation from soil siltation into Lake Victoria, contrary to conditions of approval in the Environment and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) Certificate No. NEMA/EIA/11651 issued to the developer in 2020.
As a result, NEMA ordered the developer to halt all activities until the issues are resolved and thereafter environment police officers deployed to ensure implementation of the Notice to Stop directive. NEMA management has since inspected the site and also met with Ruparelia Group officials. The most recent meeting took place at the NEMA head office in Kampala on Wednesday, December 15.
Chaired by NEMA executive director, Dr Barirega Akankwasah, the meeting discussed how to sustainably undertake the project in Kitubulu, Katabi sub-county, Wakiso district, without compromising the integrity of the lake and the surrounding environment.
Following the meeting, NEMA has ordered Speke hotel to remove all the soil dumped into or on the fringes of the lake before it can resume construction works. When our reporter visited the site on Saturday morning, there were trucks ferrying soil from the site.
This is a reversal of what had been happening since November, according to a responsible citizen Maria Assumpta Nakamya who was alarmed by the environmental abuse. Nakamya, a resident of Entebbe municipality recorded and shared on social media a video of trucks dumping soil in the lake. Under public pressure, NEMA reacted to the alleged degradation.
Nakamya is now happy that NEMA has since intervened and hopes Rajiv and his workers comply with the environmental regulations. Nakamya who is a former councillor at Entebbe municipal council, says she raised her concerns as a law-abiding and responsible citizen.
“I am so so happy that when I made an alarm, NEMA made a quick response. I also thank the people of Uganda and Entebbe in particular that they shared my video until it reached the responsible people. Those who were dumping soil in the lake were arrested but I also heard that Mr Rajiv came and tried to bribe the leaders of Katabi town council. After bribing them with Shs 500,000 he even asked them to go against the environment to side with him, saying that for them, they need development. I felt so bad, the leaders sided with him but I’m okay because what I did, is what all Ugandans are supposed to be doing. We all know that the fish that we eat lay their eggs in the shallow waters – that is the waters near the lake,” said Nakamya.
She was reacting to Rajiv’s comments saying that she had recorded the video in order to extort money from Speke hotel. Ranjiv made the comment during a press conference on December 10, where he refuted Nakamya and NEMA’s claim that his workers were dumping soil in the lake.
“I think the way in which the regulator is acting is out of pressure from the political system. If politicians actually had any concerns, she [Nakamya] would have approached us in a formal way to first come and ask us what are we doing. She is not even from Katabi, she is from Entebbe. She should have gone to Katabi local environmental committee. She would have asked them why are these people pouring soil and what is the genesis of the reason for pouring soil. Her approach to take things on social media is an extortionist approach, it has led to people getting arrested unnecessarily. This could be us today, it could be you tomorrow. And frankly, for the project I put my hands up, if you don’t want the project, I don’t have to do it.
Rajiv claimed that Nakamya wants to sabotage the project yet it is the lake that is encroaching on their land and not the other way round. He said that due to the high water levels of the lake, 7 acres out of 20 acres for the project is currently submerged.
“But we have not entered an inch into the lake even though the lake has eaten into our acreage,” he said.
Martin Aryagaruka, tRuparelia Group environment consultant agreed with Rajiv, saying the hotel was not dumping soil in the lake. He said the only breach was to use the lake shores without a permit.
“The development plans were approved taking into consideration the 50m buffer zone in the NEMA certificate. We went ahead and started the project pending issuance of the lakeshore use permit in compliance with the recommendation from Wakiso district local council. We’re leaving more than 30m and those 30m will be under land sceptic gardens or if they are to say it is in breach of law, it is because we don’t have the lakeshore use permit which has taken over 18 months since the NEMA certificate was issued allowing this project…,” said Aryagaruka.
In the last two weeks, NEMA management has inspected the site, resulting in the arrest of two foreign nationals Mukesh Kumar, 29, and Vasava Bhavikkuman Bhikhabhai, 26, and four Ugandans who were found at the site.
They were arrested after NEMA’s environmental inspectors discovered that the developer was dumping murram into the lake contrary to the ESIA certificate he had been issued to guide the development. This is not the first time Ruparelia Group is being accused of degrading Lake Victoria shores.
In 2013, over 200 residents of Namulanda and neighbouring Lutembe Ramsey wetland petitioned parliament over the degradation of the wetland. They accused businessman Sudhir Ruparelia, a founder of Ruparelia Group and father to Rajiv Ruparelia, of expanding his Rosebud Flower Farm Ltd by dumping soil onto over 200 acres of Lutembe Ramsey wetland and in very proximity off the shores of Lake Victoria.
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