KARACHI: A key official, appointed to supervise the construction of an oil tankers’ parking terminal to shift thousands of heavy vehicles from a residential area under Supreme Court directives, has found the planning of the entire process ‘deficient’ and alleged a serious lack of interest and cooperation on the part of the institution concerned to execute the multi-million-rupee project, it emerged on Sunday.
In a report to the Supreme Court, the coordinator of the project, who was appointed in September 2011 to complete the job within six months, sounded despondent under the circumstances which, he said, ‘will lead no one nowhere’ amid lack of governance and inconsistency in the provincial local body system.
“The plan to set up a new oil terminal in Zulfikarabad along the National Highway is absolutely deficient and needs to becompletely reviewed and redesigned,” said a source citing the progress report of the project recently submitted to the Supreme Court. “It has neither addressed safety issues nor the problem of security at any phase of the project. Another glaring omission is that although local, provincial and federal governments along with oil marketing companies and oil tanker owners are included as stakeholders, the Karachi Port Trust, which earns billions of rupees for handling oil tankers, is not.”
The Supreme Court in September 2011 appointed Syed Faisal Saud, a retired secretary to the provincial government, ascoordinator to oversee the construction of the proposed oil tankers’ terminal in Zulfikarabad, a project costing Rs313.57 million.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Shagufta Bibi, a resident of Clifton Block-1, who prayed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to order the shifting of the oil tankers’ terminal from the locality.
The woman had initially sent a letter to the CJP who converted it into a constitutional petition.
The petitioner complained that heavy oil tankers were parked on both sides of the main road in Clifton Block-1’s neighbouring Shireen Jinnah Colony and its surrounding area. She submitted that the oil tanker operators had encroached upon streets inClifton Block-1 and its adjoining areas, creating environmental hazards besides affecting the residents’ privacy, as families could not move freely due to vehicular activity.
The apex court’s decision came as a welcome move because the oil tanker terminal in the residential locality has become a serious issue for thousands of area residents, and also been a cause of frequent accidents, including several fatal ones.
However, even after months of the court directive, the shifting of some 5,000 oil tankers from Shirin Jinnah Colony to Zulfikarabad still seems a distant dream.
“The report from the coordinator also highlights a serious lack of interest and cooperation from the institutions concerned,” said the source. “Months were wasted due to the non-existence of any permanent local body system which has several times brought the two coalition partners in the government, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Pakistan People’s Party, at odds.”
The coordinator in his report also dilated upon having to deal with various criminal mafias which were hindering the project’s execution and claimed that there was no serious action from the institution concerned to handle the situation.
According to the source, the report says: “The planning of the project does not meet any international standard. It also seeks the input of internationally recongnised individuals or organisations for better planning.”