KARACHI: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency, working at breakneck speed, has approved the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report for the Rs2 billion Clifton traffic improvement project comprising a flyover and two underpasses in just six working days, it emerged on Friday.

Sources told Dawn that various conditions/rules had been ignored in the approval of the IEE report of the project, which was being financed and constructed by a private developer, Bahria Town, in close proximity of its under-construction residential-cum-commercial complex, under the supervision of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

They said that according to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (Pepa), Sepa can approve the IEE report of any project costing up to Rs100 million. For projects costing more than Rs100m —like the Clifton project which costs roughly 20 times the ceiling prescribed in Pepa — an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study must be conducted and approved by Sepa after holding a public hearing. However, the IEE can be approved in-house without involving the public.

The sources said that the IEE had to be approved within around 45 days and as a matter of routine Sepa was approving the IEEs in about a month. However, very few IEE reports had been approved in less than a fortnight, they added.

They said that Sepa always asked the KMC and the Defence Housing Authority to get the EIA reports of their flyover projects approved and it would never have given the go-ahead to the projects executed by these civic agencies through a mere IEE report, like it did in the case of the Clifton project.

The sources said that in gross violation to the country’s environmental laws, the Clifton project was started without the EIA or IEE approval by Sepa, which did not take any punitive action against the KMC.

Pepa prescribes heavy fines and long prison terms for violators.

Responding to Dawn queries, the IEE director of Sepa, Ashiq Langah, said that the KMC had submitted the IEE report on March 11 and the agency, after evaluating and examining, approved it on March 18.

He said that he along with Sepa director general Naeem Mughal had visited the site of the project on March 18 and March 19 to see the ongoing construction work.

Mr Langah told Dawn that the Sepa DG had the powers to change the category of any project i.e. from EIA to the IEE category.

He said that the project would be completed in just three to four months so the EIA was not required and, therefore, the IEE report was approved.

However, he did not remember whether any other flyover/underpass project had been allowed on the basis of an IEE report.

The IEE director of Sepa said that the KMC was asked to appoint an independent environmental auditor to monitor the construction process and submit its report regarding pollution — particulate matter, dust, noise, etc, generated — during the construction phase on a weekly basis to keep a close watch so that residents of the vicinity would not suffer.

However, Sepa chief Mughal and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation administrator Rauf Farooqi were not immediately available for comments.