KARACHI, June 17: At a public hearing conducted by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) on Saturday, participants urged the government to take strict precautionary measures while allowing the construction of industries and housing projects on the seafront.
They said that disproportionate coastline development would have an adverse effect on an already damaged marine eco-system, and suggested that the government initiate a system of independently monitoring seaside industries after their construction and during their operation.
The hearing concerned the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report submitted in context of the establishment of a steel industrial unit comprising cold rolling and rebar mills, and a 62 mega-watt thermal power generation plant over 100 acres in the Port Qasim’s eastern industrial zone. The session was chaired by Sepa director general Abdul Malik Ghauri.
Likely to be completed in two years at a cost of Rs17560.95 million, the project envisages producing a million tonnes of rebar and 210,400 tonnes of sheets and coils per year.
The billets and coal required for the steel mill and the power plant will be imported, while raw water at the required rate of 106 cubic metres per hour will be supplied by the Port Qasim Authority (PQA). Alternative sources of water could potentially be tube wells and a reverse osmosis system.
The allotted area is in the proximity of Gharo creek, but the project’s environmental consultants maintained that there is no potential threat to human life given that there are no settlements within a five kilometre radius of the project area.
In the context of ambient air quality, the EIA report said that the concentration of particulate matter was already high at the project’s location, because of wind and dust.
The participants of the meeting were told that the improper management of wastewater and solid waste, or the storage of hazardous chemicals and any spills or leakages could cause soil and ground water contamination, while untreated effluent discharged into the sea would damage the aquatic ecosystem.
However, the mill’s managers planned to take all possible preventative measures, including commissioning a wastewater treatment plant.
Some participants who belonged to the public questioned the plan to use the city government’s incineration facilities to dispose of hazardous materials and solid waste. They demanded that the project proponent come up with a facility for the safe disposal of the waste within the mill, since material such as industrial sludge and non-recoverable scrap are unlikely to be paid much attention to once the project starts.
A senior official from the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KW&SB) pointed out that the proponents have not addressed the project’s water demands. Government policy requires industries in the coastal belt to set up their own desalinisation plants, said the official, adding that dry nullahs in the area are assets of the city government and the project proponents must not use them to discharge wastewater into Gharo creek or the sea.
The representative of an NGO criticised the project on the grounds that it is located mainly in high-tide waters and along the seashore, and will therefore require the reclamation of the seabed and the destruction of mangrove forests. He also pointed out that the site of the project contravenes the common law “Public Trust Doctrine” which mandates citizens’ unfettered access to the sea or the shore. He further claimed that land along the shore cannot be privately owned.
Participants raised the issue that the treatment plants of some large industrial units are of insufficient size and standard, as a result of which much of the wastewater is discharged into the sea. This practice, they said, must be taken seriously by the government and Sepa since it ultimately damages marine and mangrove ecology.