Wednesday 21st April 2010 Following the withdrawal on 12 April of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed Hotel in Chiawa Game Management area in Lower Zambezi by Protea Hotels, the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) would like to make the following statement: ECZ would like to reiterate that the procedure according to the Environmental Protection and Pollution Control Act of 1990, Cap 204 of the Laws of Zambia and Environmental Impact Regulations, Statutory Instrument No. 28 of 1997, were duly followed by Protea Hotels. One of these requirements is to advertise the proposed project in the media in order to obtain comments from members of the public.  In addition the EIS was posted on the ECZ website. As a result the ECZ received large number of comments, most of them by e-mail, which were in strong opposition to the project. Unfortunately some of the objections were based on incorrect information. A number of the submissions on the other hand, were very objective. Unfortunately some stakeholders opted to make their objections in the foreign media, rather than using the channels provided for under the EPPCA and EIA regulations. This negative publicity ultimately forced the developer to withdraw their EIS from the ECZ. The ECZ would have liked this process to be concluded to its logical conclusion so that all factors could be considered in arriving at a decision. This process would have been beneficial in identifying key environmental concerns raised on the project as proposed. ECZ remains committed to contributing to sustainable development by ensuring that projects submitted are environmentally friendly.