ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: Environment Impact Assessment will be made one of the prerequisites for all projects whose funding is approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) , State Minister for Environment Maj (retired) Tahir Iqbal said.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the National Conservation Strategy Resource Centre (NCS-RS). The resource centre has been set up on the premises of the environment ministry.

During the recently-held meeting of Ecnec, "I have strongly advocated for the EIA to be made mandatory for the projects that come through Ecnec, and the federal finance minister has assured us in this regard," Mr Iqbal said.

Referring to the setting up of resource centre, he said the ministry was focussing on various projects for dissemination of information about current environment issues. He said the NCS-RC had been established for the same purpose with the financial assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

The resource centre will be further strengthened by developing a 'database on environment' under a project to be launched in collaboration with the ministry of information technology.

Later, the minister inaugurated the resource centre established on the premises of the ministry. The environment secretary, Javed Hassan Aly, additional secretary Raja Raza Arshad, joint secretaries Khalid Masood and Maj (retired) Abdul Hameed and other officials concerned were also present on the occasion.

Sher Bano, deputy secretary, National Conservation Strategy Unit of the ministry, briefed the guests about the objectives and functioning of the resource centre and said the centre had been designed to collect, classify, process and deliver print and electronic information concerning the environment.