The Post reports that Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines – Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) has requested the government to extend the Copperbelt Environmental Project (CEP).
The CEP project was supposed to have come to an end this month.
In an interview, ZCCM-IH chief executive director, William Musama confirmed the request for an extension of the project to 2010.
He explained that this was to enable the company exhaust the money for the project.
The government borrowed from World Bank and Nordic Development Bank to finance historical mining environment liabilities arising from past mining operations.
Musama further said the environmental concerns were still of great concern hence the need to extend the project.
“The levels of lead pollution are still of great concern and the period was also too short to address all environmental issues,” he said
Musama however said even the money from the donors was not enough to address all concerns of lead pollution.
He said the approval of the extension would enable them implement a number of projects in former mining towns aimed at mitigating the impact of lead especially in Kabwe and Copperbelt towns.
Musama disclosed that the government had already started the process to extend the CEP project.
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