Company News, Regulation & Policy Nov 19, 2021 6:57 PM
Daniel Ricardo Paez Delgado, Head of the legal office of the National Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA), spoke about the environmental license for the mega project.
Paez denied that the project does not currently have this permit and affirmed that it will be in force during the useful life of the complex, La Republica reported.
The expert added that, parallel to this, the preventive measure imposed by Resolution 00820 of 2018, which suspended the ordinary activities of the project, is still in force.
The lifting of this measure, is subject to the presentation of a clear, precise, detailed and objective expert opinion, on the current stability conditions (under the contingency scenario) and future (under the operation scenario) by an impartial third party, the ANLA explained.
William Giraldo, Vice President of Power Generation Projects of EPM, said that the resolution is suspending part of the license, so it must be shown that the contingency was overcome and that the project can operate in the future.
To achieve this, EPM hired a Chilean-Finnish firm, which expects to deliver the report to the environmental authority in December.
“The ANLA will take three or four months to determine the result, they will go to the project, resolve doubts and give a final opinion starting 2Q22,” Giraldo said.
The Vice-president acknowledged that there are still risks with the landfill, which could be aggravated if the Inspector’s ruling is confirmed in the following months.
Bottom-Line: There is lots of work still to do so perhaps the timing is not an issue. But what happens if the consultant’s report is negative?
And what happens if the mayor succeeds in throwing the entire project into chaos by changing contractors?
