KAYANZA June 22nd (ABP) – The provincial representative of the Burundian Office for the Protection of the Environment (OBPE) in Kayanza (northern Burundi), Mr. Léonce Mbisamakoro carried out since Thursday June 16 a two-day field trip in the Murima and Kabuye areas of the Kayanza commune, in order to realize the inventory of the authorizations granted to the owners of the exploitation sites of gravel, sand and stones, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
The Kayanza commune is one of the nine communes in the province, which has a large number of sand, gravel and stone mining sites.
At the end of that field trip, Mr. Mbisamakoro stressed that, in general, they work in accordance with the law governing the environment in Burundi.
However, he lamented that some almost never think of digging protective ditches downstream of the site. Apart from this category, he also spoke of certain owners of sites who do not backfill the land after the expiry of the period granted to them.
To the latter, he asked to leave the exploited land as they found it, especially by installing fodder grasses or forest trees.
For his part, Mr. Rémy Nsengiyumva, one of the owners of the stone exploitation sites in Kayanza commune, was delighted that they are now working in complete peace of mind, after the implementation of the code of environment. However, he said that the one-year period given to cooperatives to renew documents and contracts is very short.
To do that, he asked the authorized bodies to extend this period in order to easily honor their commitments.