KARACHI: Concerns were raised over a proposed K-Electric project at a public hearing organised by Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) at a hotel on Thursday.

The public hearing pertained to the KE’s re-gasified liquefied natural gas-based (RLNG-based) Bin Qasim Power Station-III of 900MW that includes simultaneous upgrades to associated transmission infrastructure and is estimated to cost $1bn.

The plant comprises two power units of 450MW; the first unit is expected to start production by 2018 summer whereas the second unit is likely to be commissioned by the end of 2019. Giving a presentation on the project’s environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) study, which was conducted by Global Environmental Management Services (GEMS) Ltd, Jibran Khalid representing GEMS said the RLNG-based combined cycle power generation units (namely 7 and 8) would be installed inside the boundary wall of Bin Qasim Power Station-I (BQPS-I) and would replace the existing units 3 and 4; one operated with natural gas and the other with heavy fuel oil (HFO).

According to him, detailed discussions with stakeholders, including organisations working for nature conservation, were held during the study that identified the environmental aspects which needed special attention.

“The baseline investigations suggested that all the ambient air quality parameters monitored at the proposed project location were observed to be within the SEQS (Sindh Environmental Quality Standards) limits. There are no significant freshwater [or] natural freshwater resources in the proposed project area,” he said.

Declaring the project environment-friendly, he said it involved use of cleaner fuel and posed no long-term negative impact if all mitigation measures suggested in the report would be followed.

As the floor opened for the question-answer session, concerns were raised by those present at the hearing over several issues related to the project. The ESIA report, it was said, didn’t highlight a single negative impact of the project; even all the baseline investigations, including the ambient air quality parameters, were found to be within SEQS limits in an industrial zone.

It also lacked data on the emissions and discharge from the units already operational on natural gas and heavy fuel oil. A question was also raised that the BPQS-1 had a master plan and no change could be made unless a new master plan was prepared.

Concerns over depleting mangroves, sea intrusion and fishermen’s livelihood being affected by increasing industrial activity were also shared at the Sepa hearing.

Represented by additional director general S.M. Yahya and deputy director Imran Sabir, the environmental watchdog was reminded to publicly share the cumulative environmental impact study for Port Qasim, as several new projects in the area could compromise environmental safety.

Sepa’s website

The agency’s failure to properly publicise notices for public hearings was also pointed out for which it blamed the information department. The notice for the ESIA study under discussion was not uploaded on Sepa’s website, it was said.

Earlier, the KE representatives highlighted project’s significance and contended that it would help meet Karachi’s immediate and growing energy demands. The project, they said, was also in line with the utility’s commitment of diversifying the fuel mix and subsequently passing on the positive impact to end-consumers. In this regard, they gave the example of $440 million TP-1000 (Transmission Enhancement Plan) project that was in progress.

The K-Electric was represented by Mr Aqibuddin, Zehra Mehdi and Abbas Husain.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2017