Debate No. 27 of 10.11.09

LA TOUR KOENIG & RESIDENCE COQUILLAGE – POLLUTION PROBLEMS

            (No. B/1153) Mrs S. Grenade (Second Member for GRNW & Port Louis West) asked the Minister of Environment and National Development Unit whether, in regard to the pollution problems in the region of La Tour Koenig and Residence Coquillage, he will state where matters stand.

Reply:  My Ministry monitors closely the situation at La Tour Koenig.  I understand that following regular breakdowns of the boilers at CMT Ltée, my Ministry issued an Enforcement Notice on 14 July 2008.  The factory has implemented the following measures to remedy the situation -

·                    an audit of the boilers;

·                    submission of a programme of measures to remedy the situation and schedule for regular maintenance;

·                    installation of surveillance system including control screen in the boiler room;

·                    survey and cleaning of affected areas due to deposit of black soot, and

·                    submission of Environmental Monitoring Reports on a monthly basis.

These were completed during the three weeks given to the company.

Following these measures my Ministry carried out ambient air monitoring on three occasions, the last one was from 21 July to 8 September 2009. The monitoring exercise revealed that all the parameters measured were within standards, except that during the last exercise, the hourly average of sulphur dioxide was slightly above on a few times.

Upon directions of my Ministry, CMT Ltée installed a wet scrubber in October 2009.

Furthermore, at the request of my Ministry CMT commissioned the University of Mauritius for an independent air monitoring  exercise which were carried out both at stack level (10-14 October) and for ambient air (29-31 October and 5-7 November) after the installation of the wet scrubber. The results have shown that all the parameters measured were within the standards. Moreover, the levels of both the particulate matter and the sulphur dioxide have significantly decreased and were within standard.

The operation of the newly installed scrubber has unfortunately given rise to noise pollution especially at night. I am informed that at the request of the Ministry of Health & Quality of Life, CMT Ltée carried out preliminary sound proofing works.  The last noise survey carried out on 3 November 2009 showed that the noise level was within standard.  The Ministry of Health & Quality of Life is following up on this matter.

Monitoring is being maintained at La Tour Koenig.

Keywords: ambient air monitoring

Debate No. 27 of 10.11.09

SUGAR CANE FIELDS – PRE-HARVEST CANE BURNING

(No. B/1132) Mr Y. Varma (First Member for Mahebourg & Plaine Magnien) asked the Minister of Environment and National Development Unit whether, in regard to the practice of setting fire to the sugar cane fields, prior to the harvest in certain cases, he will state if a study has been carried out to assess the impact thereof on the environment and, if so, indicate the remedial measures that will be taken, if any.

The Minister of Agro Industry, Food Production and Security (Mr S. Faugoo): Mr Speaker, Sir, with your permission I shall answer to this question.

            I am informed that the practice of burning cane prior to harvest has always been a normal and acceptable feature in the sugar industry as the objective is to facilitate cane harvesting, especially in the drier part of the island and where irrigation facilities exist to help the burnt cane to grow again.

            It is generally agreed that cane burning impacts negatively on air quality and the emission of particles from cane burning can be significant when wind conditions are unfavourable.  I am advised by the Ministry of Environment and NDU that no study has been undertaken to assess the air pollution impacts arising from the seasonal practice of cane burning.   

            Pre-harvest cane burning was widespread in the nineties when almost 35% of the 48,000 hectares of sugar cane land managed by the corporate sector was subjected to burning.  The sugar industry has now adopted controlled cane burning as a new code of practice.  For the crop 2008, the percentage of land under sugar cane which was burnt, has been reduced to 22%.  Moreover, cane burning is not being resorted to in fields earmarked for mechanical harvesting.  Thus, will the projected increase in the extent of land under mechanisation, especially with the derocking scheme on small and medium planters’ land to facilitate mechanization, the percentage of  cane burning will be further decreased.

            In the context of the implementation of the Multi Annual Adaptation Strategy Plan, a Strategic Environment Assessment of the MASS was undertaken by the European Commission in 2007.  The conclusion of the study was that the MAAS proposals were likely to achieve positive environmental effects.  However, it was recommended that the issue of sugar cane burning be discussed between the EU and the Government to optimize the environmental performance of sugar cane cultivation.

            An agreement was accordingly reached between the EU and the Government of Mauritius for controlled and planned cane burning to be a Key Performance Indicator for the disbursement of funds under the accompanying measures in 2009, 2010 and 2011.  The objective of this KPI is to reduce the area under cane burning by an average of 0.5% annually and to ensure that the sugar industry eliminate the nuisance factor caused to the environment and the tourism industry.

The Deputy Speaker:  Time is over!

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