Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

 in  Sir Lanka

                 Sri Lanka as a developing country has given high priority to economic development to raise the standard of living of its citizen.Development projects funded by both local and foreign capital play a major role in the economic development process.The share of private sector based development  projects has been increasing rapidly in recent decades.most of the resources needed for development in sri lanka come from its environment.EIA as part of the strategy to achieve sustainable development.EIA has also become a mandatory requirement of almost all international donor agencies for funding development projects.

 What is the purpose of EIA?

                  EIA is a simple and straight forward process of first predicting the potential impacts of development activities on the natural and social environment.Then suggesting measures to prevent or minimize negative impacts and to enhance positive impacts.

How does the EIA process take?

  
                   The time allowed for the project approving agencies to process the EIA from the day project proponent submitted.This is no time limit to prepare the EIA report.Experience shows that the time taken to prepare an EIA report ranges from three  months to one year.It is depending on the nature of the project.

Who is the responsible for the preparation of the EIA report?

            The project proponent is responsible for submitting the EIA report to the project approving agency.

What does the EIA report look like?

                 It is a relation short and concise document written in easy to understand language that describes the following,
     -The details of proposed project
     -The existing environment of the proposed project site.
     -The positive and negative impacts of the project.
     -Proposed mitigation measures.
     -Reasonable alternatives. 

How important is the EIA report?

                     It is very important that the project proponent pays utmost attention to the EIA report and its preparation.The project proponent should make sure that EIA report provides an objective and comprehensive analysis of the positive and negative impacts of the proposed project.Well-prepared EIA reports help project approving agencies to arrive at a sound decision without delay.
        

EIA  PROCESS