Dredging the Nile River: Feasibility Studies Should be a Starting Point for any Substantial Project in South Sudan

By Philip Ayuen Dot, Juba, South Sudan

Tuesday, September 27, 2022 (PW) — Before environmental impact assessment or feasibility studies became an accepted practice; development was still taking place but at the expense of human beings and the environment. We had rivers so polluted that they caught fire, like River Cuyahoga in Ohio, US, which caught fire thirteen times before 1960. We had unabated air pollution, whose effects we are now experiencing in the form of climate change. Climate change has come to affect those who polluted and even those who didn’t spoil the air, like most African nations.

Massive dust bowls, animals going extinct, birds and bees dying in droves, land that could no longer produce food and people made sick by environmental pollution made the world come together in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972 for the first world ecological conference. Enough was enough, they said. In the future, development has to be done in a way that does not harm humans and the environment irreparably.

In 1997, Finland, in The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Tran’s boundary Context, passed internationally accepted guidelines for projects shared among countries, while for local projects, the Rio Convention in 1992 came up with the Agenda 21 principles, which seek to ensure that while environment should not hamper development, development should not irreparably damage the environment.

This balance has led countries to adopt their own Environmental Social Impact Assessment guidelines to supplement the global recommendations. The primary purpose of feasibility studies is to predict and assess the potential environmental and social impacts of a proposed or ongoing project, evaluate alternatives and design appropriate mitigation measures and monitoring measures.

Furthermore, environmental and social issues would no longer come last; they would be a starting point for any substantial project. That was how the concept of EIA was born, along with analyses like hydrology, topography, and the resettlement action plan.

A feasibility study is a process of determining a project or system whether a potential idea is feasible. It is used to determine the viability of an idea and whether it’s legally and technically feasible as well as economically justifiable at that point.

A feasibility study puts projects into context. It answers the questions; can this be done; is this necessary; how much would it cost; what kind of technical expertise would it require; can we afford it; who will pay the cost for it; what are the strengths and weaknesses of the project and is it worth the investment?

A feasibility study is the first step of any substantial infrastructure or project. This is paid for by those interested in the project and is done before the project is announced anywhere. So, for example, a government would carry out feasibility studies for many projects for a country and then choose the most viable to start working on—same thing with financial institutions like World Bank and the European Union, the UN and AU.

Hence the EISA process starts in the Preliminary study. EISA is a process as a document. In the feasibility study, we highlight the project’s environmental conditions: nature, culture, protected areas, housing, watercourses, water sources, agriculture and forestry, etc.

We also highlight the investigation, the surveys and the measurements that must be made in the coming stages. Then we see if there are opportunities environmentally to move forward with projects. Then finally, where the path should go is investigated in the next step, where you look at the alternatives – including Environmental and Social Impact Assessment ESIA- and where you choose based on the goals you initially set for the projects.

For the selected option, a more detailed ESIA is made. A control program for the design then follows environmental and Social Impact Assessment consultations. Consultation with authorities, residents, and traders is mandatory in the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment process.

It is done to ascertain whether the project is needed and whether it will be helpful to the people around it. Therefore, a well-designed feasibility study should offer a historical background of the project and the affected community. Otherwise, one might find themselves locating a pork factory among Muslims.

The primary purpose of a feasibility study is to aid in the decision-making process. It is to help the investors or proponents of the project or the government decide whether to go ahead with the project or not. But, of course, it can go either way. If the feasibility study identifies that the project is not viable, it will give its reasons for that conclusion.

It also gives pointers and can identify new opportunities, for example, relocating the project to a more suitable place. A feasibility study also evaluates multiple parameters enabling the project, should it be carried out, to be done so smoothly.

Failure to undertake a feasibility study leads to what is commonly referred to as white elephant projects. These are projects that were not viable, yet taxpayers or the public’s money was used to either fund them or pay the loans that supported them.

For this reason, the world adopted the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for any project with a significant environmental impact.

For this reason, South Sudan has its own draft bill on environmental protection that caters for ESIA, The Draft Environmental Protection Bill. The Draft Bill guides that projects likely to have an external Body shall conduct significant environmental and social impacts, an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment that the ministry has approved of the environment. Furthermore, the ESIA shall be made available to the ministries concerned and anyone who requests it.

The author is a Trained Environmentalist, an Independent Opinion writer on environmental issues, social, and economic topics and can be reached via his email: Philipdot57@gmail.com.

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