ISLAMABAD, May 5: Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pepa) is working out guidelines for the owners of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations to get environmental clearance certificates, official sources told Dawn.

The sources said the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), which was licenser for setting up of CNG stations, had recently decided that an environmental clearance certificate was a must for this business, therefore, the Pepa decided to draft a comprehensive set of guidelines to be met by the people interested in establishing a CNG facility.

A draft in this regard has already been prepared and lying with the EPA director-general for final approval, which later on will be sent to the sister organisations in the other provinces.

Earlier, there was no such prerequisite and the people were setting up CNG stations without taking into account the environmental hazards for the people living around, they said.

The sources said so far none of the CNG stations set up in Islamabad had fulfilled this requirement. At present, there are around 20 to 25 CNG filling stations in Islamabad. They said the agency had also written a letter to the chief commissioner, Islamabad, and director-general environment directorate of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in his regard but to no avail.

Under section 12 of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA) 1997, it is mandatory for such installations to seek permission from the Pepa concerned, they said. In order to implement section 12 PEPA 1997, IEE/EIA Regulations, 2000 has already been notified.

However, in the absence of guidelines and OGRA's lack of concern, the CNG stations were cropping up all over the country without taking into account the environmental concerns.

Talking to Dawn the owners of a CNG station said, "We seek licence from OGRA before setting up a CNG facility. So far, there is no such prerequisite." There are around 12 No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to be sought before establishing a CNG unit which are duly obtained, he claimed. "Had there been another NOC regarding environmental clearance, we would have followed that too," he added.