EIAs are a legal requirement and part of the project development process usually done at the initial stages of a project development. It is a decision-making tool and should guide whether a project should be implemented, abandoned or modified prior to implementation.
The goal of an EIA is to ensure that decisions on proposed projects and activities are environmentally sustainable. It is a useful aid for decision making based on understanding of the environment implications including social, cultural and aesthetic concerns which could be integrated with the analysis of the project costs and benefits. This exercise should be undertaken early enough in the planning stage of projects for selection of environmentally compatible sites,process technologies and such other environmental safeguards