Until last week, the scale of the envisaged Musina-Makhado metallurgical zone (MMSEZ) was mind-boggling: an 8 000 hectare dirty industry complex with a 3 300 megawatt (MW) water thirsty coal plant at its centre. Fortunately, criticism from interested and affected parties during and after the public participation process turned the heat on the Limpopo local and provincial governments to rethink the footprint of the special economic zone.
The return to the drawing-board was also prompted by the environmental assessment practitioner, Delta BEC. When the final report was presented to the Limpopo economic development, environment and tourism (LEDET) department on 1 February, there was no clear green-light to the project, with problems about public participation and the negative effects on the natural environment and resources in the Vhembe Biosphere, a Unesco heritage site of which the department, ironically, is the custodian.
This led to a further round of public participation because the LEDET returned the report on the recommendation of the independent external reviewer to ensure more in-depth specialist reports on, for example, the critical water, waste, energy and climate change components and also for the public participation process to be completed properly.
Although the very heterogeneous group of interested and affected people agree that the public participation process held in late April this year was a flop for the third time in a row, the reduced footprint of the zone does contain major revisions that could potentially sizably reduce the negative effects of the zone.
Chinese investor secrecy: behind the scene deals?
It is clear that, nationally, Chinese loans and investments are being kept secret. In the case of the MMSEZ, there have been behind-the-scenes consultations and compromises about minimising negative environmental effects and increasing the positive effects of the zone through, for example, job creation. The zone’s negative effects have even made the press in China, putting additional pressure on the Shenzhen Hoi Mor, who through the tarnished reputation of its chief executive, Ning Yat Hoi, need all the positive public relations they can possibly get.
What is not clear is why there is so little public information and open disclosure around the Chinese investors in the zone. An internet archive search has dredged up the list of investors who have signed Memorandums of Understanding.
The Limpopo Economic Development Agency (LEDA) and Shenzhen Hoi Mor (the South African Energy and Metallurgical Base, Hoi Mor’s locally registered subsidiary company) are managing the investor negotiations without putting any information into the public domain as part of the EIA process. Even Delta BEC is not aware of who exactly is investing in the zone and on what terms and conditions. The Chinese investors are powerful state-owned Chinese companies including the mighty Power China, which will be responsible for the coal plant.
The full list of investors are:
The China Civil Engineering Construction Company; the China Communications Construction Company; the Power Construction Corporation of China; the China Metallurgical Group Corporation; the China Huadian Corporation (Hong Kong); the Taiyuan Iron & Steel company; Nanguo Hodo Holdings; the PowerChina International Group (associated with the Power Construction Corporation of China); the Tengy Group and the MCC International Incorporation (a subsidiary of China Metallurgical Group Corporation).
