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4916 [Tuesday, 29 October 20133. Clause 4 will add a new subsection (4) to section 29 of theAct, to provide for monitoring, evaluation and reportingrequirements on the implementation of the approved pollutionprevention plan.4. Clause 5 will also insert new subsections in section 36 of theAct. The additions propose that in instances where thelicensing authority fails to take a decision within the timeperiod set out in the Act, an applicant may request the MEC orMinister, as the case may be, to take the decision, and in theevent that the MEC does not have the capacity or the MECdoes not deal with the matter within the reasonable period oftime, the Minister may be requested to take the decision.When considering this subsection the Portfolio Committeewas mindful of sections 125(2)(b) (Executive authority ofprovinces) and 156(1)(b) (powers and functions ofmunicipalities) of the Constitution of the Republic of SouthAfrica of 1996, which provides that the Province or theMunicipality, respectively, is vested with the power toimplement all national legislation within the functional areaslisted in Schedule 4 of the Constitution, except where theConstitution or an Act of Parliament provides otherwise.The licencing authority to issue an atmospheric emissionlicence is usually vested in the relevant local authority.However, this clause will designate the Minister to be thelicensing authority: where the applicant for atmosphericemission license is a provincial organ of state who has beendelegated by the municipality the power to issue atmosphericemission licenses; where the air emission activity falls withintwo provinces; whenever the air emission activity forms part ofa national priority project approved by Cabinet; where the airemission activity is also related to the activities listed underthe NEMA, (1998) and the National EnvironmentalManagement: Waste Act, 2008, designating the Minister asANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS NO 147─2013