HYDERABAD: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has taken cognizance of the way the Karachi-Hyderabad motorway known as ‘M9’ is being constructed by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) amid the growing impression that it has become a nuisance for travellers.

Users of the under-construction motorway have been suffering economic losses and facing great trouble due to improper diversions along it.

Sepa has served notices to the FWO and National Highway Authority (NHA) for Sept 21.

The NHA is said to have signed an agreement with the FWO for motorway’s construction on a ‘build, operate and transfer (BOT)’ basis.

One of the points raised in the Sept 16 notices says: “Traffic diversions during construction of M-9 shall be carefully planned to ensure smooth flow of traffic. Information will be provided to public through electronic & print media well in advance for all diversions & detours planned during construction.”

It said that “use of appropriate construction techniques should be adopted during construction of M-9 so as to least disturb flow of traffic along the corridor”.

The notice contains 16 points, in all, to be responded by the FWO and NHA.

Confirming the issuance of the notices, Sepa director general Naeem Mughal told Dawn that “apart from reports from different circles, we have our own observations to arrive at a conclusion that certain deviations from the approved Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report are being made”.

According to reports, not a single diversion has metalled road.

Eight diversions are given on Hyderabad-bound road along the under-construction M9, dotted with big potholes, causing serious damage to the moving vehicles. A lesser number of diversions are given along the Karachi-bound carriage. Barriers in the shape of drums often lead to road accidents. Proper lighting is not available to serve as warning signs for travellers considering huge number of light and heavy vehicles that ply on it.

In case of a traffic accident along Superhighway, as had happened on Sept 7 at a point near the DHA City, things usually come to a grinding halt, stranding people for hours thanks to unending queues of vehicles. In such a case, neither the project authorities nor the motorway police are able to restore the flow of vehicular traffic for several hours.

“All mitigation measures recommended in EIA report should be complied with, for achieving negligible impacts on physical, ecological and socio-economic environment of the area. Sindh Environmental Quality Standards (SEQS) for ambient air quality, noise, emissions, wastewater and drinking water shall be followed in letter and spirit”, reads one of the observations in notice.

DG Mughal said that neither the FWO nor the NHA were taking care of issues relating to road safety measures for travellers as well as the community that lived in the surroundings of the old Karachi-Hyderabad Superhighway.

“They [NHA and FWO] had undertaken that they would ensure appropriate diversion for a smooth flow of traffic and the traffic management plan but the ground reality is in a sharp contrast to the set out conditions,” admits the DG.

“The project authorities have to set up their crushing and asphalt plant quite away from the highway but they are doing it in close proximity and this has become an environmental hazard,” he said.

Another observation in the notice is that “The NHA and FWO shall appoint a qualified independent monitoring consultant (IMC) whose responsibility shall be to monitor hazards, dust emissions, road obstructions, traffic jams, sound and noise level(s) and other environmental damage due to the construction of the M-9”.

The notice said that the IMC should ensure that activities at project site were undertaken in an environment-friendly manner and mitigation measures were implemented as per the recommendations of the EIA.

It said that “a complete code of health, safety and environment (HSE) shall be developed which should include efficient parameters at specific work place. For this purpose HSE set-up should be established and supervised by a designated HSE officer at senior level with sufficient administrative and technical authority to perform the designated functions. Proponent will make sure that operating instructions and emergency actions are made available to every worker/ labour/commuters/ citizens/passersby at site”.

Mughal pointed out that Sepa officials have gone through EIA’s approval and noticed that glaring violations are being made. He hinted at withdrawal of EIA’s approval “if related conditions are not complied with”.

“We can withdraw the approval or can attach more conditions if the proponent agrees to address the issues”, he said.

Published in Dawn September 20th, 2016