221102000241 - Irrigation project to produce plants and fresh produce on Farm !Uris 481, using excess clean wastewater from Tschudi Copper Mine, Oshikoto Region, Namibia

An amendment to the original environmental clearance certificate issued for the project. The proponent intends to divide the current 500ha irrigation project on farm Uris into four 125 ha portions. Each portion will be established on four individually owned farms surrounding farm Uris. However, the current amendment only covers three of the four farms. The fourth farm is reserved as a future site and the owner of that farm will be responsible to conduct a separate ESIA. There are new proposed stakeholders intending to join the irrigation scheme and have farms in proximity to the current irrigation project on farm Uris. The joint investment project will be known as Nam – Citco and the irrigation project will solely focus on the production and sale of citrus varieties. The total area size under irrigation will remain the same as approved under the current ECC but will be divided into four equal 125 ha portions on 4 separate individually owned farms. This amendment includes three of the four farms, of which two portions fall on farm Uris 481 and one portion lies to the south of farm Uris on farm Bobos 544 as seen in figure 1. This suggests that the amendment will only include a 375-ha area irrigation scheme and associated linear water distribution infrastructure (pipelines). Three separate 6” PVC pipelines are proposed to be constructed/installed from the Tsudi Copper mine (water source) to irrigation points and storage dams on farm portions 1, 2 and 3. As set out in the scoping report and EMP, the main change to the environment will include a spatial footprint increase because of two additional portions added to the project, of which one portion falls on farm Uris 481 and the other on farm Bobos 544 with additional water pipeline infrastructure connected from the Tsudi Mine to the three portions. Instead of one 500 ha area under irrigation the project will now be fragmented across four farms with a 125-ha irrigation scheme planned per farm (farm 4 is only planned to be added in the future and not covered under this amendment application). Thus, new land will be cleared for the project and effectively dispersing the spatial and linear footprint of the project infrastructure. The pipelines will follow existing roads to limit its environmental impact. However, the pipelines will only be installed once the Tsudi mine is back in production. Please refer to the ESIA reports for detailed information on how the community and environment will be affected by the proposed change to the project. Overall, the project will remain very similar as approved under the current ECC, with regards to water supply from the mine pit and six permitted boreholes and usage. The total area under irrigation will be reduced to 375 ha under this amendment. However, the spatial footprint of the project will increase due the number of farms involved increasing to three which will each have 125 ha under irrigation. Farm 1, 2 and 3.