KARACHI, April 9: The Sindh Coastal Development Authority (SCDA) has submitted a proposal for the replanting and regeneration of 8,000 hectares of the Indus delta mangroves in Shah Bandar, Keti Bundar and Karachi areas with an estimated cost of Rs100 million.

The official sources disclosed the proposal had been submitted keeping in view the rapid destruction of the Indus delta mangroves, likely to cause irreparable loss to the national exchequer.

“It requires urgent remedial measures because the hyper-saline conditions in the coastal belt have resulted in gradual ecological disorder. The salinity has been caused by the non-release of Indus water into the sea for about three consecutive years, affecting the largest areas of the arid climate mangroves”, the sources observed.

The Indus delta mangroves is spread over an area of approximately 600 million square metres between Karachi and the border between Pakistan and India. The delta consists of 16 major creeks and extensive mudflats. It is about 200-km-long and 50-km-wide.

According to a survey, the mangrove forests in Keti Bandar and Shah Bandar have been reduced to 1000 square metres in just over a decade.

This degeneration has ultimately hampered the production of species including the “palla and danger fish”. Their catch was 600 tons in 1986, which has been reduced to 200 tons now. Similarly, the annual average catch of the shrimp has also declined.

The SCDA has sent a proposal for planting of salt resistant tree species in the coastal area of Sindh with an estimated cost of Rs 25 million, with the main objective to reclaim the degraded, saline land by planting salt and drought resistant tree species in the coastal zone of Sindh.

The sources said that this plantation in turn would reduce water table, restore the productivity of degraded lands, build up tree resources in Sindh, thus bridging the gap between demand and supply of fuel wood , timber, and industrial wood.

They said it would also produce raw material for establishment wood-based industries, generate employment, increase the income of rural population and check and reverse the desertification process.

The project also aims at massive planting of drought and salt resistant tree species on the private lands in the coastal zone of Sindh, which are degraded due to shortage of irrigation water.—APP