The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process is currently exploited by corrupt officials and is deviated from its correct usage, experts noted at a recent discussion held on the subject at Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA).
“EIA has become a politicised process and a profit generator, where corrupt academics make faulty reports. It no longer serves the purpose of being a technical tool for decision making, but has become a project approval process,” said Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice, Hemantha Withanage.
Withanage further said certain malpractices in the EIA process has come into expert notice, which includes the same officer from Central Environment Authority (CEA) conducting and approving the report. He further said that EIA process is outdated and does not incorporate new tools and ideas.
“ The current EIA process in the country is about 25 years old and does not involve climate impact assessment and other safeguard tools used by World Bank(WB) and Asian Development Bank(ADB) in their assessment,” Withanage told the Sunday Observer.