ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change on Thursday asked the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to stop the expansion of Islamabad Highway until a no-objection certificate is issued by the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA).

The direction was issued when the committee learnt that the CDA had started widening the three-lane highway without getting an environmental clearance from Pak-EPA.

The committee also wanted to know why steel mills in the capital city were violating environmental laws and emitting poisonous gasses into the air and why the environment watchdog was unable to take actions against them.

Pak-EPA has been asking the CDA, which is widening the 24-kilometre-long Islamabad Highway, to submit an environment impact assessment (EIA) report.

CDA directed to submit environment impact assessment report to Pak-EPA and get NOC

Under Section 12 of the Environment Protection Act 1997, all developers should submit an EIA report to Pak-EPA before starting any small or mega development projects.

The EIA helps Pak-EPA understand the kind of damages that can likely be caused from the movement of heavy machinery, cutting of trees besides other environmental concerns, so that it can suggest recommendations before issuing an NOC.

But the committee learnt that despite reminders from Pak-EPA and the Ministry of Climate Change, the civic authority had failed to submit an EIA report on the project.

“How can the government violate its own laws? By doing so, the government set a precedent for others in the private sector to blatantly violate environmental laws,” said Senator Nehal Hashmi of the PML-N.

He told one of the CDA project managers, Shahid Sohail, that he would personally visit the site to see if the work on the project had stopped.

“I will hold the CDA responsible if it continues the work without the environmental clearance from the concerned offices,” said Mr Hashmi.

When Secretary Ministry of Climate Change Arif Khan recommended that the environment tribunals penalise the CDA for violating the environmental laws, the chairman of the committee, Senator Mir Mohammad Yousuf Badini of the PPP, said, “The CDA should be held accountable for violating environment laws.”

However, Shahid Sohail told the committee that only paper mulberry trees, which were the major cause of pollen allergies in the twin cities, were being cut from the project site.

“Paper mulberry trees are being gradually removed to reduce pollen count in the air,” he said.

Mr Sohail also informed the committee that a lane on the highway had been reduced just to save as many trees as possible.

However, Pak-EPA has expressed its dissatisfaction over the way the CDA had started the expansion work after it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on June 30.

Secretary Arif Khan told the committee that Pak-EPA had rejected a draft EIA report prepared by a private firm hired by the CDA describing it as insufficient and in violation of the standard procedures.

The committee also took up the matter of air pollution produced by dozen or so steel mills located in Sectors I-9 and I-10.

The members decided to visit the mills to see why the problem of emissions had not been resolved so far.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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