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KARACHI, April 23: Sindh Minister for Environment and Alternative Energy Dr Sagheer Ahmad has said that a committee of experts will shortly be constituted to review explanations given by the city government over the grievances of stakeholders regarding the proposed 25-kilometre-long Karachi Elevated Expressway (KEE) along Sharea Faisal.
Speaking to Dawn, the minister said that as a follow-up to the public hearing on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report on the KEE, which was held on April 3, the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) would notify, in a day or so, the names of experts who would look into the public complaints and apprehensions of NGOs and professionals.
He said that the establishment of a review committee was not only in view of the criticism and concerns of the citizens and stakeholders, but was also in line with EIA rules.
The committee will visit the proposed construction sites of the KEE project, review the alignment of the project and then submit recommendations, which will provide a base for clearance or disapproval of the project by Sepa, the minister added.
A source in Sepa said that answers to various queries received from the city government were also being sent to the quarters concerned, who had submitted their comments and reservations on the project to the agency before the EIA public hearing.
FACTORY RAIDED: It was learnt that Sepa was preparing to issue a notice to a cement factory located in Nooriabad Industrial Estate allegedly for not observing environmental parameters.
According to a source, a team of field and technical officers, led by the director-general of Sepa, visited a cement factory on Thursday evening to examine the emissions of particulate matter from its chimney-stack.
“Despite the fact that factory was informed in advance about the examination, the team was not received duly and those present created problems for the team. Their resistance was such that the area police had to rescue the team,” said a member of the team.
The team used recently acquired stack emission analysers and dust collectors for the purpose of the examination, which continued into the small hours of Friday. There were complaints that “careless industrial activities in Nooriabad” had compounded negative effects on the health of the workers and population in the surroundings, added the member.
