Post a comment
The Parliamentary Committee on Works and Public Assets, chaired by Hon. Bashiru Silikie, who also doubles as Deputy Leader of Government Business, recently conducted on the spot-visit on quarries in Port Loko and Tonkolili districts respectively.
After the visit, Hon. Silikie expressed mixed feelings about the operations of quarries, adding the establishment of the company is positive, but operating without due diligence was unprecedented. “Some of these quarries do not have Environmental Impact Assessment license,” he stated.
He disclosed that his Committee has stopped the operations of quarries that have not gone through the due process.
During the oversight tour, the Committee Members observed that some of the quarries were not regularized to operate. It was discovered by the Committee that some quarries were operating without a work permit from the Ministry of Works and Public Assets. It was also observed that most of the quarries were owned by foreigners and do have work permits, and their job duties contravened the Local Content Policy.
The Committee also observed that there were conflicts between quarries over concessionary areas. It was observed by the Committee that some host community members were conniving with foreigners to establish quarries without authenticating their operations. The Ministry of Works and Public Assets and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do not have any information about some quarries, making the existence illegal.
