LAHORE: The environment department is assessing the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project and the objections raised on it during a public hearing.

The department had earlier held a public hearing on the project’s EIA report on June 30 at Alhamra Cultural Complex (Qaddafi Stadium). The exercise is mandatory before approval of the EIA report related to any mega development project.

The report was submitted by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to the environment department during last week of May, after it was prepared by National Engineering Service Pakistan (Nespak).

Officials say since the report and the objections raised on the project during the public hearing are currently being assessed by a committee of experts, the department has urged the LDA to compensate those likely to affected by the project generously.

“The committee of experts we have constituted consists of four members -- Dr Ghulam Abbas Anjum (University of Engineering and Technology dean on city and regional planning), Shahid Riaz Cheema (a former chief engineer and urban planner), Sheikh Zubair (an ex-conservator of forests) and Khushhal Khan (a former TEPA chief engineer on transport planning). The team is currently reviewing the objections, mostly about land acquisition, compensation and changing location of train stations,” Environment Director Naseemur Rehman told Dawn on Tuesday.

He said the department had also asked the LDA, the executing agency of the project’s infrastructural work, to keep the land acquisition minimum in order to avoid inconvenience to public.

He said since all legal formalities had been completed by the department, the EIA report was likely to be approved in the coming days.

He said the department had also received a written objection from a citizen about the project’s environmental impact on historical monuments - Chuburji and Shalamar Gardens -- which are on the train’s route and a recommendation for underground track at these points. “We have forwarded the suggestion to the committee as well as LDA to study it. And if it was feasible technically the LDA should follow it”, he added.

“We find this project fit for execution as far as its environmental impact and remedial measures the agencies concerned have pledged to adopt in the EIA report are concerned. However, we will continue to monitor all such remedial measures during construction and operational phases of the project in order to make it environment-friendly,” he said.

He said the agencies concerned were already taking up the land acquisition issues seriously. “That is why all metro train stations except two (which would be underground because of The Mall) would now be constructed on elevated platforms to keep land acquisition minimum.” he added.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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