Ineke Steinhauer
Technical sectretary
The NCEA issued an advisory review of the EIA report for dredging of a new acces canal for Cartagena Bay. It concluded that essential information is lacking in the report, some of which is essential for decision-making on licensing of the project.
Significant details
To accommodate for an expected increase in number and size of ships that makes use of Cartagena Bay in Colombia, establishment of a new access canal is being planned. This project includes dredging of the new canal, for which an environmental license needs to be granted. An EIA report forms the basis for this environmental license.
The Environmental Ministry of Colombia asked the NCEA, via the Netherlands Embassy in Colombia, to perform an independent quality review of the EIA report that was prepared for this project. The NCEA established a working group and made a site visit. It submitted a draft, and subsequently a final advisory report. In this report, it concluded that the EIA report is generally well-written, based on clear methodological steps, and containing a significant amount of information. Nevertheless, the EIA report also shows essential shortcomings on issues for which, according to the NCEA, additional information is needed before decision-making on license granting. Some of the shortcomings are:
- Assessment of project compatibility with various levels of policies, plans, programs and legislations is lacking;
- Gaps in information exist regarding sediment sampling and analysis;
- The description of the relocation methodology of corals is not clear and no alternative relocation destinations are described;
- The impact assessment does not facilitate understanding of how the coastal bay system reacts to project-induced changes;
- The proposed monitoring for the abiotic environment is insufficient to assess adverse changes;
- The EIA report does not give arguments for inclusion of some stakeholders and exclusion of others.