Kivuwatt project will not affect residents - report

A report has allayed fears of economic loss to people relocated from where the Kivuwatt methane gas project is located, as well as those who directly benefited from the economic activities around the area. The report indicates that fishing activities in Lake Kivu, which is a source of income for over 350 people, won’t be much affected. “Boats will be able to cross the pipelines as these will be submerged 20m below the surface although there may be restrictions on deep nets above the pipelines.” “In any event, we will be monitoring catches to ensure that there are no adverse effects,” reads a statement from ContourGlobal The exclusion zones are only 500 m around the barges, the re-injection areas and the power plant, so they don’t anticipate that such an exclusion area will impact the catches. On the issue of people who were resettled from the land being used for the Kivuwatt project, ContourGlobal is preparing a resettlement action plan, especially for farmers who were “economically displaced” from the marine landing site. “We are in a process of preparing a plan for the farmers that were economically displaced from the marine landing site, the farmers have been compensated in accordance with the Rwandan law, but we are looking at other means of restoring any lost livelihood as a result of the project” read a statement from ContourGlobal. The project is also envisages to directly and indirectly benefit the local economy. “We have not calculated the economic benefits, but they will clearly be significant as there will be provision of jobs and the opportunity to provide contracts and services to local businesses.” The catch of the fresh water herring locally known as Isambaza, which is the predominant fish in Lake Kivu;— alongside other fish species— are also likely not to be affected because the general biodiversity will be secured. There are also safety measures among which include automatic shutting off the gas flow in the event that a problem is detected, these are put across to ensure the safety of fishermen could there be a leak explosion of the methane gas. Ends