On Friday, September 21st 2012, the civil society organization Voahary Gasy Alliance, visited several Ambatovy’s sites in Toamasina. After the obligatory health and safety induction session, the nine-member delegation from the Extractive Industries Committee of the Alliance began its visit at the Ambatovy Information Center. The tour then continued with a presentation given by Ambatovy’s Environment Department. The presentation covered the various international standards that the company adheres to, such as IFC Performance Standards, along with information about Ambatovy’s different environmental programs and provided details on the specific lemur and amphibian programs as well as the biodiversity compensation initiative based on the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program (BBOP).
The delegation then moved on to visit the Agricultural Training Centre in Betainomby, where the visitors discovered that this training centre is intended for former employees who would like to return to or convert to farming activities. It was also an opportunity for the delegation to discover Ambatovy’s social commitments.
In the afternoon, the Voahary Gasy Alliance delegation spent some time at the Ambatovy Training Center. They were particularly interested in Ambatovy’s Technical Excellence Program (PEXT) that allows young people from Atsinanana region to benefit from specific training targeted towards their progressive take over from foreign technicians who came to ensure the start-up of Ambatovy’s operations.
The visitors showed a great interest in Ambatovy, not only in terms of its environmental programmes, but also its social and economic components. The members of the Extractive Industries Committee from Voahary Gasy Alliance will visit the Moramanga mine site in the near future.
