RAWALPINDI, March 15: Environment protection, pollution control and water conservation should be given top priority to achieve objectives of sustainable development in developing countries like Pakistan.

This was said by Federal Minister for Environment Maj (retired) Tahir Iqbal here on Monday. He was inaugurating a consultative workshop organized by the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The workshop aimed at inviting proposals from councillors, NGOs and consumers regarding the best implementation of ADB-funded forthcoming Rawalpindi Environmental Improvement project (REIP).

The minister said environment concerns were correlated with health and economic issues and therefore a balanced approach should be adopted for successfully pursuing development goals.

He expressed his pleasure over the initiation of the REIP and hoped that it would improve the city's environment. The initiation of such projects, he said, required active involvement of industrialists, city administration, district government, chamber of commerce and influential citizens.

Factory owners in Rawalpindi should also be asked to set up plants for treating industrial waste, he said. The environment impact assessment, continuous management, monitoring and evaluation services of urban environment projects should be done regularly to ensure proper implementation.

He said sewerage treatment plants for treating municipal wastes would be set up in other cities of the country soon. The hospital waste incineration project by the environment ministry would soon be launched as careless disposal of hospital wastes was the main cause of increasing incidence of viral and bacterial diseases, he added.

Earlier, the Wasa managing director, Brig (retired) Pervaiz M. Khan, gave details of the REIP for which a technical survey had already been conducted by Nespak, a state-run engineering and consultative organization.

He said environmental sanitation, water support services along with purification of Nullah Leh water were the main objectives of the project. The ADB's urban development specialist, social sector, South Asia department, Shakeel A. Khan, said the aim of the project was to improve water quality and environment of the city and provide services to low income and slum areas.

He said it also aimed at strengthening Wasa, Rawalpindi Development Authority and Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) institutionally and providing technical training to the staff of these civic agencies.

A large number of women councillors, representatives of NGOs and consumers also put forward their proposals to ADB regarding implementation of the project.