KARACHI, Aug 8 The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) on Saturday held the first-ever public hearing on an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report pertaining to any public housing scheme, in line with Section 12 of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997.

The housing scheme, proposed to be developed by the United Workers Front (UWF) of the Karachi Port Trust on 250 acres in the Western Backwaters area, Hawkesbay Road, will have 5,000 houses of 120 square yards each, and, among amenities, 18 parks, three hospitals/health centres, four educational institutions, six playgrounds and eight prayer places for various sects.The public hearing, which was chaired by the Sepa Director-General, Naeem A. Mughal, was held at the Sepa headquarters in Korangi. An official of Sepa's EIA cell, M. Imran Sabir, conducted the proceedings.

The secretary of the UWF, Javed Hashmi, informed the participants of the proceedings, which included stakeholders, government officials from various departments, environmentalists and representatives of various private concerns, that the land for the society within the KPT limits had been leased for the cooperative housing society after a special waiver granted by the federal government in view of the housing problems of low-income KPT employees.

“It is true that as per the standing policy of the government, lands provided to the KPT should be used mainly for the development of the port and harbour, but the government was requested to allow the lease of the land to the UWF as a special case in order to facilitate low-income employees who formed the major part of the KPT workforce and played an important role in the development of Pakistan and the KPT,” Mr Hashmi said, adding that the allocation of housing facilities near the workplace created less fatigue for employees already under physical stress.

He said it had been difficult even for various cooperative development bodies for professionals to avoid any change of ownership of plots allotted to individuals on subsidised rates, and the UWF had therefore decided to bind its employee allottees to retain their respective plots at least for a period of ten years.

He added that a rise in sea level, climate change and the threat of tsunamis had been considerations for the planners and environmental consultants, and that was why both the KPT and its workers cooperative housing society would ensure a rise in the height of an already existing barrier or bund near the project from time to time to give the residents protection against the threats of nature.

Earlier, the environmental consultants for the project in their presentations said that the existing land allocated for the housing scheme was not located near the protected land reserved for turtles. The scheme was also not to cause any relocation of rural and native human settlement, they made it clear.

The consultants and proponents said that after speaking to people of the area, concerns had been raising regarding issues such an increase in vehicular noise, a loss of tranquility and an increase in the discharge of untreated sewage water into the sea.

Some participants at the hearing, however, raised the question of solid waste handling and feared that that the issue needed a comprehensive plan and its meaningful implementation, otherwise waste was “surely going to create a nuisance at the beach”.

The proponents maintained that they had planned adequate infrastructure and regulatory controls for its members regarding solid waste collection and disposal, hospital waste management, storm-water drainage, sewerage water disposal into the official sewerage system, transport management and control on use of flammable and hazardous chemicals. None of the waste water would be directed to the sea untreated, as the sewerage discharges from the residential and commercial premises and hospitals under an arrangement with the Lyari Development Authority would be directed to its treatment plant first, it was further added.

They further said that during the construction, there would be some impact on air quality, which could be overcome through proposed mitigation measures.

Furthermore, the proponents said the housing scheme would be a 'green project', with attention paid to planting of trees in the land development, layout planning and infrastructure and amenities development phases. They said that the cooperative housing society also intended to promote use of solar energy by installing solar streetlights and security lights, geysers for domestic use and will also explore the feasibility of solid waste-to-energy generation.

Sepa DG Naeem A. Mughal, said that the proponent had positively responded to Sepa for the EIA, which was a mandatory exercise under the laws of the land. Some of the plans obviously could be realised when the related government agencies extended their support, he added. He said he hoped that the proponents would also address the environmental and social concerns raised during the public hearing as well and come up with suggested mitigation measures.

Referring to a view expressed by a representative of an NGO about the entitlement of the piece of land handed over to the cooperative housing society, the chair said that the project was advertised in various newspapers by Sepa and the LDA on two different occasions to gather public comments and complaints, but no institution or authority had barred Sepa from holding the public hearing.