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KARACHI, July 11: The Board of Revenue (BoR) will move a summary to the chief minister regarding transfer of land of the M.A. Jinnah Road Sports Complex to the Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs within a week. This was decided on Monday at a meeting held at the office of the Chief Secretary, Fazalur Rehman. The meeting was convened to decide the fate of the lingering project on the directives of President Pervez Musharraf. Provincial Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Qamar Mansoor also attended.
The meeting discussed various aspects of the project and decided that BoR would send the summary for land transfer to the chief minister through the chief secretary. It would then be implemented by the city government within a week after its approval.
The provincial minister for sports and youth affairs would get some vital decisions regarding the project approved from the highest level through the Sindh governor.
The meeting was also attended by provincial secretaries Mehtab Akbar Rashdi (Culture and Tourism), Syed Faisal Saud (Works and Services), Inzar Hussain Zaidi (Planning and Development), Additional Secretary Local Bodies Ghulam Arif Shaikh and Additional Secretary Works and Services Aarab Shaikh.
TREATMENT PLANT: The project of the Combined Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) for the Korangi Industrial Area (KIA) was reviewed in a meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary, Fazalur Rehman on Monday.
The meeting was told that there were 200 tanneries at the KIA, 170 of which were fully active, and that the CETP project was aimed at treating the effluent of these tanneries.
The city government has also obtained 15 acres for the project on concessional rates.
The meeting was told that over 90 per cent work on the project had been completed, and it would hopefully be inaugurated by Dec 2005 by the President.
The meeting was apprised that the CETP project was being completed with the help of the federal and provincial governments, the Export Promotion Bureau, the city government, the KWSB, the Pakistan Tanners’ Association Southern Zone Environmental Society (PTASZES), and the government of Netherlands. It would cost Rs492 million.
The waste water conveyance system and dilution line work would be completed with the help of the KWSB next month.
Discussing the PTASZES, it was decided that rules and regulations about its membership would be fully implemented, and the Sindh Department of Environment and Alternate Energy would issue notices to tanneries to end open discharge of effluents and ensure their treatment according to internationally-accepted standards.
The meeting also decided that stern action would be taken against the tannery units found spreading environmental pollution. It said these units should stop the practice before legal action was taken against them.
The meeting was told that the Pakistan Tan ners Association (PTA) was also working on installing chrome recovery plants in individual tannery units, and it would provide a comprehensive plan in this regard to the government and related institutions.
The meeting was attended by the EPB Vice-Chairman, Zafar Mehmood, Provincial Secretary Industries Nasir Hayyat, Provincial Secretary Environment Shamsul Haq Memon, Chairman Pakistan Tanneries Association Ihsan Illahi and KWSB MD Brig Iftikhar Haider.—PPI
