KARACHI, Oct 19: Gas and oil exploring companies were urged by the participants at a ‘public hearing’ to ensure optimum uitilization of locally available manpower in their projects.
They further observed that the monitoring of mitigation measures promised to be adopted by the oil companies for reduction of potential impact of their activities on the physical, biological, socio-economic, archaeological and cultural environment of the project area, should be enhanced further by involving NGOs and local communities.
The ‘hearing’ was held at the Sindh Environment Protection Agency complex, Korangi, on Saturday for considering the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, as furnished no behalf of the OMV (Pakistan) Exploration, for proposed drilling of five wells within the Sawan Development and Production Lease. A part of the project area lies within the Nara Game Reserve, located in Khairpur district of the province.
The oil firms’ activities are expected to included construction at well sites, construction of access track, rig mobilization and drilling of development wells. The EIA report coveres the environmental and other impacts of the drilling operations and envisaged measures to mitigate those.
The proponent and environmental consultant for the project, presented details and referred to the potential entailing impacts of the activities in the project area, including soil erosion; soil, water and air pollution; noise pollution; depletion of water resources; loss of vegetation; disturbance to wildlife and degradation of socio-economic environment.
However, they concluded that proponents of the well project were fully aware of the impacts, likely to be made by the project activities, but held that the mitigation measures proposed in this regard would help minimize the identified hazards.
Though the representatives of the stake-holders, belonging to some government agencies and NGOs, raised different issues and recommended steps to address the grievances of the people living in vicinity of the project sites.
In view of the shrinking number of participants at the EIA public hearing, a couple of speakers stressed the need of shifting the venue of the hearing to some place in the areas inhabited by the community concerned.
The World Wide Fund for Nature representative said that skilled labour for the project should be hired from among the local people or from the same region, and proper record be maintained and made public in regard to appointments made for the project.
A Sindh Wildlife department’s official called for the assessment of cumulative impacts of ongoing exploration activities in the Sindh Protected Area.
OMV’s representatives present on the occasion assured the gathering that the firm would fulfil its commitment pertaining to baseline study of the Nara Desert Wildlife Sanctuary.
In his concluding remarks, the chief minister’s adviser on environment, Faisal Malik, who also chaired the hearing session, called for employing skilled youth of the province at oil projects on priority basis.
He said that oil projects should be aimed at betterment of thepeople of the province, while making efforts for providing relief to communities affected by the project activities.
The SEPA deputy director, Naeem Ahmad Mughal, also spoke on the occasion.
