KARACHI: Installation of two incineration units proposed by the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in the Sindh Education City (SEC), as part of its project, drew a lot of flak from stakeholders on Friday at a local hotel, where the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) had organised a public hearing on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the project.

One of the many concerns raised during the discussion pertained to installing these units handling highly hazardous biomedical waste in an area which was allocated and dedicated “for the sole purpose of having educational institutions and planned to cater to over 150,000 students”.

Titled ‘Administration and Utility Block of (Aga Khan University’s) Faculty of Arts and Science’, the project was stated to be developed within the 1,000 acres area that the government had allotted to the AKUH in the Education City planned over 8,000 acres on the outskirts of the city.

According to the information provided to the audience, the proposed project would be located at the Link Road, Malir town, near Kathore adjacent to the land allotted to the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation.

Its components would include an administration building, a parking area, heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, a diesel storage facility, a hot water boiler, a workshop, a warehouse and an incineration compound with two high-tech units with cumulative treatment capacity of around 500kg/hour.

“While the EIA report refers to the project as ‘AKU Administration and Utility Block of Faculty of Arts and Science’, the main components of the project are two medical waste incinerators as can be seen from a detailed study of the report. Therefore, the report has to be seen in the light of an EIA report for the two incinerators and not anything else,” said Dr Raza Gardezi representing Citizens for Environment, a non-governmental organisation.

He argued that the proposed project, if allowed to be developed, would violate The Education City Act 2013, which allowed establishment of only educational institutions in the education city.

“No non-educational project can be allowed in the SEC especially a structure as hazardous as a biowaste incinerator. Such a project will not only be inconsistent with SEC’s master plan, but also a source of menace for more than 150,000 students who would eventually be studying there,” Dr Gardezi contended, urging Sepa to reject the EIA report on this ground.

He also referred to a 2014 Sindh High Court verdict wherein the court had disallowed the establishment of any project inconsistent with the master plan of the development scheme.

Some stakeholders shared the concern that the proposed project had nothing to do with the AKU development schemes at the SEC and would actually treat the waste being generated at the AKUH and its healthcare facilities, suggesting that some other site should be chosen for the purpose.

Replying to these points, the AKUH side represented by Amin Lalani, Yousuf Farooq and retired Colonel Umer Farooq explained that the AKU’s plans for the SEC included the establishment of fully-fledged faculty of arts and science and a professional graduate institute in coming years and these incinerators would meet their needs as well as the requirements of the expanding hospital and its allied healthcare facilities.

They reasoned that a number of high-rises were coming up at the site of hospital’s main campus and that the location was now not feasible to install incinerator there.

It was also contended that medical education was part of the Education City project and other healthcare institutions allotted land in the said development scheme had also planned to install their incinerators there.

Need for two incinerators?

It was also noted with concern that the project proponent couldn’t acquire proper commitments in writing from utility agencies for the project’s water, electricity and gas requirements.

There was also a demand from the audience that Sepa must not look at projects being planned in the Education City in bits and pieces and must seek a cumulative impact assessment from the department concerned overseeing the megaproject.

The environmental watchdog was also asked to consult independent infectious diseases experts to see whether incinerators were still the best mechanism to treat medical waste.

Earlier, Jibran Khalid of Environmental Consultancy Services gave a detailed presentation on the EIA report mainly focusing on the installation and operation of two incinerators, which were said to be equipped with effective filter mechanisms to ensure safe emissions.

The presentation lacked specific data on solid waste generation.

In his concluding remarks, Sepa director general Naeem Mughal suggested to the project proponent that it should consider upgrading the incinerators run by Karachi Metropolitan Corporation in Mewashah.

“Instead of setting up incinerators in the education city, AKUH may enter into some collaboration with KMC to upgrade these old incinerators,” he said, adding that it would be a great community service and help AKUH treat its own medical waste.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2019