Daily Times

Right under the nose of the federal government, its own departments and ministries flout the environmental legislation in one way or the other quite shamelessly. The National Highways Authority (NHA) has set another brazen example just a week ago. It started construction work on the Metro Bus tracks from Peshawar Mor (G-9) area to the new Islamabad international airport without the mandatory approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

Though the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) has raised concerns over the violation of the Pakistan Environmental Act, the NHA continued with the construction work in different patches on a track of 25.6 km. It is said the NHA has submitted a flimsy EIA report that has yet to go through an expert review and a public hearing. Under the law, no construction work could be carried on the large projects until the EIA of the project is approved by the Pak-EPA, only after ensuring the recommendations have been duly incorporated in the EIA report as proposed by the experts’ review and the public hearing.

The Section 12 of the Pakistan Environment Act reads: “No proponent of a project shall commence construction or operation unless he has filed with the Government Agency designated by Federal Environmental Protection Agency or Provincial Environmental Protection Agencies, as the case may be, or, where the project is likely to cause an adverse environmental effects an environmental impact assessment, and has obtained from the Government Agency approval in respect thereof.”

The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Review of IEE and EIA) Regulations 2000 state that federal or provincial highways or major roads, except maintenance, rebuilding or reconstruction of existing roads, with a total cost of Rs 50 million or more, fall into the schedule II category and section 12 of the Act is applicable to such projects.

It is a routine practice for the government’s mega-projects that are simply kicked without prior approval of the EIA reports. The projects submit the flimsy EIA reports to the EPAs when almost half of the projects have already been completed. The EPAs are left with no option but stressed to give go ahead to the projects. The citizens’ concerns left unaddressed. It is likely to happen again with regard to the present NHA project. It is said the NHA is one of the habitual to do so.

This is not the first blatant violation of the Pakistan Environmental Act. The nation has seen such violations since the parliament passed the Act in 1997. Exactly, two decades have passed in ripping the sanctity of the parliament by violating the legislation and befooling the citizens.

In many cases, they root out the existing infrastructure to develop the new one. The recent example in the federal capital is the Metro Bus project the cost of which was exaggerated to almost triple of what was estimated in the feasibility report of the World Bank just over a year before the said project was started. The very well done carpeted roads and the lush green belts were removed to develop the Metro bus tracks. Ironically, the costs of damage to the then existing infrastructure and the green belts were not included in the total cost of the project.

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the development projects has turned to be more than a joke. Being a subordinate department of the federal government, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency has already proven to be toothless. In my opinion, it is unnecessary anymore to term it Pak-EPA that virtually serves a jurisdiction of a district after the 18th Amendment.

Unfortunately, the Pak-EPA is only effective for issuing Environmental Protection Orders (EPOs) to the small industries or the housing units polluting environment within the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). In many cases, the EPOs turned to be ineffective when the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) and the influential industrialists approached the high-ups in the federal government.

Once, the lush green Islamabad has lost its beauty to the lust for the concrete. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has committed many violations of the city’s Master Plan at the behest of the rulers.

The PML-N government is known for infrastructural development. I wish they could learn to work with more effective sustainability. This way they could have set some worthwhile examples for others to follow.

The writer is an Islamabad-based public policy and outreach expert. He can be reached at devcom.pakistan@gmail.com. He tweets @EmmayeSyed