May 28, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1429

KARACHI, May 27: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has decided to ensure complete compliance of environmental rules of the country in the housing and urban development sectors.

According to sources in Sepa, the authorities are of the view that no proponent of any project should be allowed to commence construction work or operations unless they have acquired a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the provincial monitoring body.

The Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997, and other regulations call for timely and well-thought-out decisions following sound advice in the context of environmental aspects, but the federal, provincial and district governments, public sector agencies and the private sector – as the main actors – largely bypass the legal requirements and authorities, undermining the objectives of environmental stability and sustainability in the province.

In view of growing inconvenience to the public and the imminent threat to the built-up environment of Karachi and other cities of the province, Sepa wanted that the provisions in the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997, regulations and guidelines for public consultation should be fully implemented, it was further said.

Officials and environmental activists generally refer to ongoing projects, including those pertaining to expressway corridors, bypasses, coastal areas’ development and housing schemes, oil terminals, commercialisation of roads, power plants, desalination plants, water and sanitation schemes, sewerage lines and drains, and stress for compliance of environmental assessment criteria prior to the execution of such development projects.

“An environmental impact assessment or initial environmental examination of any development project helps arrest the adverse impacts at the planning stage and modifies and improves the project design in a timely manner,” said an environmental official.

Sepa Director-General Ali Ahmad Lund told Dawn on Tuesday that among others, the Master Plan Group of Offices of the CDGK and the Karachi Building Control Authority were once again being told not to approve any housing schemes or building plans in the absence of the relevant environmental clearances issued by Sepa.

“The authorities concerned are also being asked not to convert land-use of any plot without obtaining a NOC from Sepa,” he added.

He said the protection agency had also taken notice of reports pertaining to the construction of a new multi-storey health complex at the federal government-run Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Jinnah hospital is being asked to provide project details first, so that an environmental assessment – under Section 12 of Pepa – could be conducted and the relevant compliances be ensured before any execution of the project.

In the meantime, another source in the agency said it was the lenient view towards developers and proponents of projects that resulted in the rapid rise in fuel stations, marriage halls, schools, shopping plazas, food centres, catering and cooking houses along roads and residential blocks, which in many cases are now considered sources of public nuisance and the cause of environmental and health worries.

Conservationists have pointed out that unguided development would surely bring hassles in many respects. Frequent digging of roads for utility purposes also needed to be examined thoroughly and needs to be completed within a well-defined and publicly approved time-frame and mechanism, otherwise it were sure to cast an adverse impact on the area’s population, businesses and commuters, it was added, with the hope that well-thought out execution of projects would ensure an uninterrupted flow of funds, saving the projects from being halted halfway.

Plazas and industrial units are allowed even in energy deficient and utility starved residential and commercial areas, which in turn cause problems for residents and businesses already existing in the areas.

“Plans are approved for big commercial buildings but unfortunately, those remain untouched or unchecked by the agencies concerned in their execution or operational phases,” claimed a conservationist, calling the authorities concerned to demonstrate their will and pave the way for genuine enforcement of environmental and social protection rules, regulate development and appropriate land-use changes.