LAHORE: A non-certified private lab has prepared the baseline profile regarding the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Orange Line Metro Train (OMT) project, Daily Times has learnt.
EPA had issued a no objection certificate (NOC) to the proponent Lahore Development Authority (LDA) for the execution of OMT project, which is worth Rs 1.62 billion, on May 8, 2015.
Before the execution of any mega project, it is required for EPA to issue an NOC regarding its EIA. It is the responsibility of EPA to recheck the private laboratory’s report before rewarding an NOC to the proponent.
National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) was hired as a consultant by LDA for the OMT project while Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) laboratory was hired for preparing EIA report for the project.
The baseline profile intends and establishes a database against which, potential environmental impacts of the project can be predicted and managed.
Sources said that more than a dozen of laboratories’ applications are pending with EPA for certification, while SGS laboratory’s application has also been pending for renewal since 2011. “The department is reluctant to issue certificates to these laboratories as no one meets the requirement of EPA’s laboratories certification rules,” a source privy to this scribe said, adding that the certificate of SGS laboratory has expired since 2009.
According to Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 (XXXIV of 1997), no laboratory shall function as an environmental laboratory unless it is granted certification under the regulations.
An official in EPA seeking anonymity told Daily Times that before issuing certificate to any private laboratory, the proponent’s case must be approved by EPA’s special committee but in the past, these laboratories were being operating without fulfilling necessary requirements.
Section 2 (xi) of Pakistan Environment Protection Act (1997) and EIA Regulations 2000 stress that qualitative and quantitative facts and figures produced by any lab must be according to the national environmental quality standards (NEQS) regarding vehicular emission, drinking water, surface water, wastewater, ambient noise & air and industrial gaseous emission. It is the prime responsibility of the advisory committee of experts constituted by EPA to assess the EIA report submitted by the proponent.
It has also been learnt that beside non-certification, the results presented by SGS didn’t meet the NEQS. However, the EIA report, prepared by SGS, fabricated the results on the quantitative release of emissions of pollutants like Carbon Monoxide, Hydrocarbons, Nitrogen Oxides, in accordance with environmental standards of the department regarding motorised emission along the roads of the project.
According to NEQS and World Bank guidelines, the noise level should not exceed more than 55, 65, 75 and 50 decibel (dB) in residential, commercial, industrial and silence zone. But in SGS’s EIA report, the noise level was set as 80 dB without any clear reasoning. Hence, the EPA report tried to prove that the OMT project would not affect noise pollution.
The characteristics and pollution level of ground and surface and wastewater changed seasonally, the pollution level is at lowest in the monsoon season. The EIA report of OMT project area does not include season-wise systematic data for ground, surface and wastewater.
A report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed that Pakistan has a higher urban pollution level in the world. The EIA report presented air pollutants like Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) below than 0.01 micro grams per cubic meter (ug/m3) while the authentic institutions like WHO, SUPARCO, JICA, MoCC had described this levels more than 90 ug/m3 for the similar sites that exist in project area.
Similarly, the ozone causes skin and respiratory diseases while airborne lead causes lungs cancer. WHO had reported a four times high level of these gases in Pakistan but the said EIA report is silent on the existing level of these gases.
In baseline profile, climate and meteorology data like temperature, precipitation and relative humidity is given for the years 2004 to 2008. The EIA report didn’t mention the metrological data for the current years.
Director General Dr Javed Iqbal said that the department would review this report and if any irregularity was found, it would be dealt according to the law. He also confirmed that some applications of private laboratories were pending with EPA for certification.