PESHAWAR, Nov 25: The NWFP government has proposed amendments under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency Review of Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) and Environmental Impact Assessment (IEA) Regulations, 2000 , to get its scope expanded in an attempt to bring small businesses under its net, official sources said.

The sources said that a proposal to this effect had been submitted to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for bringing about amendments under the regulations.

Well placed sources in the provincial environment department said that amendments had been proposed to make the regulations effective as in the case of the NWFP majority of the businesses being established in the services and manufacturing sectors did not fall under the categories of new businesses that require submission of the IEE and EIA to the provincial EPA for obtaining no objection certificate (NOC).

The regulations, which facilitate EPAs (four provincial and one federal) to implement the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997, envisage mechanism for monitoring production operation of manufacturing units and activities of a wide ranging businesses to make them adhere to officially laid down environmental quality standards.

The regulations, said the sources, did not require small businesses, involving less than Rs10 million, to submit the EIA or IEE. "This provides window to small businesses to avoid submitting the EIA or IEE and start operations without obtaining the NOC from the provincial EPA," said a source.

As a result of the condition, according to the sources, poultry farms set up in the NWFP do not need to submit the IEE because the regulations make it binding on all those farms to obtain NOC which involve an investment of more than Rs10 million.

"People have set up poultry farms in the province which do not involve an investment of Rs1 million thus the owners are not required to seek an NOC from the provincial EPA by submitting the IEE," said an official.

The NWFP, said the sources, had suggested the federal EPA to over come such shortcomings in the regulations by reducing the ratio of initial investment, which determines the eligibility for any listed business to submit the IEE or EIA for obtaining NOC by the provincial EPA.

The official said: "The NWFP's recommendations attracted opposition from the governments of Punjab and Sindh because enlarging the scope of the regulations would put them under tremendous work load."

The official said that the NWFP had a total of about 1,500 small industrial units of which more than 50 per cent were closed down due to non-conducive business environment. Similarly, the number of poultry farms and other small businesses was much less if compared with Punjab and Sindh provinces.

The NWFP, said the official, was easy to manage in comparison with Punjab and Sindh where there were thousands of functional big, medium and small industrial units and other businesses that fall under purview of their respective EPAs.

"If they (Punjab and Sindh provinces) agree to take the IEE and EIA regulations to smaller businesses it would add more pressure on them as with only two deputy directors the Punjab EPA has to keep an eye on the operational activities of more than 10,000 units," said the official.

The officials said that the proposals submitted by the NWFP EPA had been formulated in a way that if made part of the regulations the same would not add more burden on the EPAs of Punjab and Sindh, whereas in the case of the NWFP the application of IEE and EIA rules would become effective.