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Victor Maphosa Herald Correspondent
HOUGHTON Park residents in Harare are up in arms against a steel manufacturing company which they accuse of polluting the air through heavy smoke emissions. Steel Brands operates a heavy industrial business in a residential set-up with the blessings of Harare City Council.

Residents are crying foul over the decision by the local authority to allocate the company land to manufacture steel in the area, saying their health was at risk.
They are demanding an urgent stop to the company’s operations.

The residents claim that smoke emissions have an unbearably choking smell, but surprisingly, the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) clothed the industry with some legitimacy saying the residents were safe.

Most residents, who claim to be bearing the brunt of the choking emissions, accuse EMA, council and Steel Brands of conniving to ensure the business runs at the expense of the masses’ health.

The Herald visited the area after residents persistently expressed concern over the company’s operations.
Residents closer to the manufacturing plant confirmed that they were being affected by the emissions.

“The fumes are very dangerous. We cannot bear the smell and the noise that comes from the plant. It operates in the evening when residents are asleep, but we are afraid we may develop respiratory diseases,” said one of the residents.

Another resident said her children were asthmatic and they were being affected by the emissions. Other residents said the waste from the plant was also affecting vegetation.

“When these people were constructing their plant they assured us that they were going to use the building for a warehouse. To our surprise, we started seeing fumes and were told they were a manufacturing company that recycles scrap metal.

“We wish the city fathers could help us by relocating the company far from the residential area. They are the ones who gave them this land, hence they also have the power to relocate them,” said another resident.

EMA provincial environmental manager for Harare Metropolitan Province Mr Robson Mavondo, however, allayed residents’ fears saying emissions from the plant are not a threat to residents.
Mr Mavondo said tests had confirmed the safety of the residents.

“After receiving complaints from the community, EMA intervened and issued an environmental prohibition order for the company to cease operations as they did not have an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificate,” he said.
“Steel Brands submitted an EIA report to the Agency after the issuance of the prohibition order.

“The EIA was rejected on the basis that project did not have adequate control measures to address air pollution and that it was situated in a light industrial area despite it being a heavy industrial project.

“Steel Brands lodged an appeal with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce after which a committee comprising the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), National Social Security Authority (NSSA), City of Harare, Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and Ministry of Industry and Commerce officials resolved to look into the matter with a view of assessing the feasibility of the continued operation of the Steel Brands plant.”

He said the committee resolved that a test-run of the Steel Brands plant be conducted during the period January 23, 2017 to February 23, 2017.

“The test run was meant to facilitate the measurement of all pollution aspects from baseline through start-up stages up to the steady state of operational phase of the plant,” he said.

“The test-run was conducted in the presence of all the technocrats from the Government departments constituting the committee on January 23, 2017 starting from 11:45 hours and was continued with the plant running at its operational phase until February 23, 2017.

“The agency was assigned the responsibility of monitoring the emissions from the facility with a view of ascertaining the level of risk posed by the emissions and compliance with statutory requirements.”

Mr Mavondo said during the trial run period, Steel Brands worked on a number of improvements to their plant based on recommendations from the technical committee.

“Emission control mechanisms and noise control methods were employed to comply with the set standards. The efforts started bearing positive results as emission results started improving moving from the red pollution band to the acceptable limits according to Atmospheric Pollution Control Regulations. Eventually an EIA acceptance certificate was issued on October 16, 2017.”

Steel Brands health, environment and quality manager Mr Renias Zireva said besides EMA, two more independent companies were engaged to test emissions and found out that they were within acceptable range.