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KARACHI, Dec 15: The Sindh environment and alternative energy department is seeking to ensure enforcement of EIA (environmental impact assessment) and IEE (initial environmental examination) of projects which are described as the basic tools required to arrest adverse environmental impacts at the planning stage.
A couple of ongoing projects initiated without Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) clearance are also being asked to furnish reports on their environmental impacts as required under Section 12 of the Pakistan Environment Protection Act, 1997.
This was stated by Sindh Minister for Environment and Alternative Energy Dr Askari Taqvi in a recent talk with Dawn at his office.
He said efforts were being made to expand the activities related to assessment of environmental impacts of development projects in the city and in other parts of the province.
He said the acquisition of impact assessment reports from the project proponents, both in the private and the public sectors, had been satisfactory, but he said he personally felt that the purposes of the conditions incorporated in Sepa’s NOC against projects were not being met due to a shortage of relevant staff and expertise.
He said there was a great need to get compliance from the project proponents in regard to the observance of mitigation measures as determined by Sepa after assessment and public hearings.
He said Karachi was expanding rapidly and as such Sepa also needed to be vigilant in the context of adverse impacts, which could be attributed to the ineffective project management. Poor monitoring might create room for adverse effects such as traffic congestions, air pollution, noise pollution, accidents and inconvenience to people, he added.
“We are considering utilising a few of the new officials in Sepa for strengthening the EIA section of the agency in addition to some more staffing and logistic facilities that have been proposed under the new schedule of expenditure to the government in the next budget,” the minister said, adding that there was a need to run the EIA section as a fully-fledged arm of Sepa.
He said the newly posted officials would undergo a skill development training course shortly at the Institute of Environment, University of Karachi.
DHA projects
Mr Taqvi said there had been public concerns on the environmental impacts of an under-construction 1.66-kilometre-long flyover on the main Gizri Road in Defence Housing Authority and as such Sepa had asked the DHA to furnish some information before carrying out further works on the project.
The sooner the DHA responded to Sepa objections, the earlier the process about impact assessment and issuance of an NOC against the project would be completed, the minister said, adding that the DHA should come up with answers to people’s apprehensions about noise and air pollution in the wake of projects.
Following the submission of an initial report by the DHA about six months back, Sepa had said the project would result in trapping of smoke, hydrocarbons, noise and other emissions from vehicles running on this portion of Khayaban-i-Hafiz, located in a busy commercial and residential area, and as such an impact-mitigation plan was needed to be finalised after observing legal formalities.
Mr Taqvi said that at a recent meeting the DHA administration had stated that it was willing to address the people’s grievances and adhere to environmental laws, but a written response or any revised work plan from it was still awaited by Sepa.
Replying to another question, he said Sepa had acceded to the viewpoint given by the DHA about a bay commercial district project, but now the latter was also required to fulfil the conditions imposed by the former.
“We have asked the DHA not only to ensure the installation of an independent monitoring body in regard to the implementation of the mitigation measures provided in the IEE of the commercial district project but also submit its reports on a quarterly basis to Sepa,” the minister said, adding that the DHA would have to submit fresh IEE or EIA in future in case any new scheme was undertaken in any of the zones conceptualised under the Waterfront Development Project.
Sepa was badly criticized for giving environmental clearance to the DHA for undertaking multi-billion dollar projects such as the WDP without holding any public hearing or scientific and technical deliberations.
There is a rule under the environmental laws of the country that the proponent of a project costing not more than Rs50 million can be issued an NOC on the submission of an IEE report, while the project beyond these parameters is required to be examined for environmental impact assessment that include the conduct of a public hearing.
