KARACHI: Audience of the National Scoping Workshop on the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) process of TAPI Gas Pipeline Project were Tuesday given the firm assurance that the government would fully support building of the 825 kilometres-long Pakistan section of the project in full compliance of the international, national and provincial environmental laws of the country. The firm assurance came from Romina Khurshid Alam, parliamentary secretary for Ministry of Climate Change, while speaking as the chief guest at the workshop held as part of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) Study of TAPI Pipeline Project in Pakistan. M/s Environmental Management Consultants (EMC) Pakistan organised the workshop as being the local associate of international consortium of consultants, including M/s MAB, M/s Naftec and M/s Jacobs, working on ESIA of TAPI project. “It is my pledge that the government of Pakistan will fully support TAPI Gas Pipeline Project vis-à-vis ensuring compliance to environmental acts, rules, and regulations both at federal and provincial levels,” said Miss Khurshid Alam on the occasion. She said that participants of the workshop would be helpful in identifying the scope of negative and positive aspects of the TAPI project in Pakistan so as to make it more sustainable, environment, and climate friendly. “Do share with us whatever are the recommendations and deliberations of this workshop so as to incorporate them in our plan to build the project to mitigate to the maximum possible extent any adverse social and environmental impacts of the project,” said the parliamentary secretary. She said that the federal government would provide full assistance and coordination so that the TAPI Pipeline Project was built in accordance with different provincial environmental laws, guidelines, and regulations. Ministry of Climate Change Additional Secretary Muhammad Shakeel Malik said that construction of TAPI project would emerge as the national-level bench mark of compliance with environmental standards and regulations. He said that the transnational gas pipeline project would also emerge as a supreme example of regional cooperation to overcome persisting energy shortfall in Pakistan and in neighbouring countries. He said that the government would fully make sure that construction and operation of the TAPI project in Pakistan comply with national environmental quality standards and rules and regulations of environmental watchdogs of Balochistan and Punjab – the two provinces in Pakistan from which the gas pipeline would pass through. “This workshop would be helpful in meeting the national, provincial, and local level environmental requirements as stipulated in the law,” said the additional secretary. Syed Nadeem Arif, managing director EMC Pakistan, told the audience that four separate ESIA studies were being undertaken for the TAPI project one each for Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. He said that ESIA of the project would comply with local and international environmental standards, including the regulations set by leading global financial institutions to assess the environmental, socio-economic, and community health components of major developmental projects. “This among other regulations will also include performance standards of International Finance Corporation.” Former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) director general Asif Shuja Khan, who is currently working as chief operating officer at EMC Pakistan, said that the TAPI project would pass through 17 districts – nine of nine of Punjab and eight of Balochistan – having variant and complex topography of land, environmental, natural habitat, social, wildlife, and biodiversity features. “These all aspects would be taken care of well in the ESIA study being conducted for the project to suggest the best mitigation measures to lessen harmful impacts on environment, flora, fauna, natural resources, and habitat of these areas,” he said. He said that proper air quality, noise, physical environmental, ecological surveys, socio-economic, human resettlement surveys would be carried out in sample areas of the country to conduct ESIA for the project as being a lawful requirement. He added that a series of consultative workshop would be held at the national, provincial, and district levels with the government departments concerned, civil society organisations, academia, and research organisations to make the $10 billion worth of project meet the lawful, socio-economic, cultural, and archeological, and heritage requirements of areas of Pakistan through, which it would pass through. Khaled Nassar, team leader of NAFTEC/MAB (the international ESIA partner firm of the project), said that the project would be built in the four regional countries in a manner that it should fully conserve the environment, wildlife, natural habitat of their areas from which pass through. He said that TAPI project would be implemented to protect livelihood prospects of the local communities whereas it would also generate massive employment opportunities for the skilled people in the areas nearby to the gas pipeline. Saquib Ejaz Hussain, project manager ESIA study from EMC Pakistan, said that 23 locations had been properly identified all along the proposed route of TAPI pipeline in Pakistan for conducting surveys of physical environment as part of the ESIA for the project. “Similarly, around 15 major locations have been identified in the country for air quality and noise surveys to determine baseline situation along the gas pipeline route. Ecological, archaeological, socioeconomic and resettlement surveys will also be conducted by multidisciplinary teams engaged by EMC.” He said that a proper grievances redress mechanism would be defined as part of the ESIA document to meet the international requirements to resolve possible environmental and social grievances caused due to construction of the project. He said that land acquisition and human resettlement aspects of the TAPI project would be carried out in the country well in accordance with the international lawful requirements so that nobody living in the areas of the project should be deprived of his or her rightful compensation package after acquiring his living place or agricultural land. “The project would be carried out in Pakistan in a manner that local communities would fully own it as per the international aspirations,” he said. He assured the audience that ESIA would be duly presented before environmental watchdogs of Punjab and Balochistan for approval as afterwards the document would attain a binding legal status. The participants asked about the possible socio-economic benefits the projects would generate for the backward areas of Balochistan and also about possible share of the province in the gas supply Pakistan would receive after commissioning of the project. Published in Daily Times, May 16th 2018.