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KARACHI: Ignoring scant public participation in a meeting held to discuss the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of a high-rise project in Clifton, the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) on Tuesday decided to go ahead with the ‘public hearing’ that could be best described as an eyewash.
Named Dynasty, the ground-plus-22-floor residential-cum-commercial project is to be built adjacent to Ocean Mall and Tower, main Khybana-i-Iqbal, Block 9, in Clifton.
The plot measuring 4,263 square yards falls within the jurisdiction of Cantonment Board Clifton.
Apart from Sepa officials and those linked with the project, there was hardly any public representation, especially those who are likely to be affected by the project, in the programme.
“Would Sepa still call it a public hearing? This event should have been cancelled. But as the department has a tradition of carrying on with proceedings and approving projects whatever objections are raised against them, this is too much to expect,” said Zubair Ahmed Abro, a lawyer specialising in environmental issues, as soon as the floor opened for the question-answer session.
Mr Abro was the only participant, apart from a journalist, among the audience who recorded his concerns over the project. He criticised what he said had become a norm at Sepa.
“How could you expect to hold a fair public hearing when (a) people don’t know that a public hearing is being organised and (b) when the EIA report is not accessible to them? Till yesterday, this EIA report wasn’t available on the Sepa website,” he said.
Water shortage
Mr Abro also questioned that how water requirements of the project would be met given the serious water shortages the city had been facing.
Treatment plant
“We are told that the building’s sewerage system will be connected with Treatment Plant 2. But lately through the commission the Supreme Court had set up, now it is known that the plant is not functional and its land has been encroached upon. In these conditions, how the project would work?” he asked.
Challenging the air quality data shared in the presentation, he cited a 2007 World Bank study according to which Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 levels in the city were multiple times higher than the international and national environmental limits. The PM 2.5 and PM 10 limits of the project area mentioned in the presentation were 21.7 µg/m3 and 56.8µg/m3.
Fifth most populated city
Last year a WHO report declared Karachi the world’s “fifth most polluted city”, followed by Peshawar and Rawalpindi.
PM 2.5, the most harmful air pollutant to human health, is a particle matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that’s found in soot, smoke and dust. It includes pollutants, such as sulphate, nitrate and black carbon, which penetrate deep into lungs and in cardiovascular system, posing high risks to human health. PM10 is particulate matter 10 micrometers or less in diameter.
Ban on construction
About concerns related to the ban on the construction of buildings beyond ground plus two storeys in the metropolis, Imran Sabir of Sepa explained that the department wouldn’t grant approval to any building project unless its proponent acquired a no-objection certificate from the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB).
The ban had been imposed this May by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) on Supreme Court’s instructions after the KWSB informed the apex court that it had deficient resources to supply for the increasing number of high-rise buildings.
The ban does not affect the no-objection certificates (NOCs) the SBCA had issued for scores of skyscrapers planned before the ban’s imposition.
The project proponent, Premier Enterprises, however, claimed that the KWSB had notified through a letter (dated Jan 2016) that the board would provide them water and sewage facility as and when required.
“We will verify from the KWSB if they have given any approvals,” Mr Sabir said, asking the project proponent to explain how it would address traffic issues. Saleem-ul-Islam, project consultant for transportation, responded to him by explaining that sufficient parking space would be available within and outside the building and the project’s peak hours wouldn’t coincide with normal traffic rush.
Earlier, Shahid Lutfi of Environmental Consultancy and Services, the consultancy firm that prepared the EIA report, shared salient features of the project as well as some of the report’s findings.
He tried to justify the project’s need, citing that it would meet growing housing needs and create employment opportunities.
According to him, the project’s approval by the Clifton Cantonment Board is pending whereas the Pakistan Air Force, the Civil Aviation Authority, K-Electric and the KWSB had granted NOCs to the project.
“The land is the property of the project proponent that has acquired permission for conversion of residential land use to commercial use from the land management department,” he said.
The project had a dedicated fire fighting system, garbage/waste storage area and a provision for power generation through solar energy, he said, adding that concerns of the stakeholders had been addressed after meetings with them.
“The environmental impacts of the project are insignificant, of short-term and easily manageable,” he claimed.
In reply to the queries related to air quality data, he said the data generated by Bahria University was correct and he stood by it.
Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2017
