Josephine Napwon, Minister of Environment reads a position paper on the controversial dredging project on some tributaries on the Nile. | 8th June 2022 | Credit: Moyo Jacob.

The Minister of Environment and Forestry has said the Nile River dredging project is illegal and will not commence until proper environmental assessment is conducted.

Josephine Napwon told a press briefing in Juba Wednesday, that the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation has not yet notified the environment ministry over the initiative.

“We in the Ministry, are not aware of this development, and we also saw the equipment on social media but we did not even know the equipment are meant for what until we saw that it is for the dredging of the Nile,” said Napwon.

Last week, the government of Unity State said the dredging project along the Naam river would start as soon as the next phase of the machinery arrive.

This morning, the authorities in the flood-stricken state announced that they are installing the recently imported dredging machines to start opening the pathway of the Naam river amidst public concerns over the initiative.

Meanwhile, Minister Napwon has termed the planned dredging ‘illegal’ and is now demanding the halting of the project until an environmental risk assessment is conducted.

“I don’t think the project will go ahead, how will they even start? I don’t think they will start the project without the environmental assessment. Therefore, since the above process has not commenced, any dredging of the rivers is illegal,” she said.

Minister Josephine Napwon said her institution has developed flood mitigation and adaptation strategies that do not include either dredging of rivers or resumption of Jonglei Canal.

Napwon said the environment ministry is waiting for an official notification by the ministry of water resources in order to assign a team of environmental experts to conduct scoping and the screening of the project.

According to her, the team of environmental scientists will then develop terms of reference for the conduct of environmental social impact assessment and other studies.

The conduct of the environmental social impact assessment shall be advertised for the bidders and those vetted and deemed qualified to be awarded the contract by the government to conduct the assessment and studies, she said.

They will then submit the report to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry for review and endorsement, and if the report concludes the project has no social impact with recommended mitigation impacts, the project will be given a go ahead.