ISLAMABAD: The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) is spending between Rs350 million and Rs500 million extra on maintenance of its ships due to increasing pollution in the sea, KPT chairman Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

“We have to dock our boats and tugs to clean the propellers and the shafts of plastic and polythene bags. Pakistan Navy is facing the same problem of having to spend five times more on maintenance of its ships. It will not be long that foreign ships stop coming to our harbours,” Jamil Akthar told the Senate Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs.

The committee met for a briefing on steps taken to clean the polluted water containing sewage and industrial waste that is fatal for marine life, poisoning seafood and degrading human environment.

Describing himself a victim, Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar said that increasing sea water pollution had created an emergency situation that demanded immediate action.

“Seeing is believing. We will like to invite the committee to see the disaster happening on the ground,” Jamil Akhtar said.

The director general of Ports and Shipping, Asad Chandna, shared similar concerns when he told the committee that from 450 million gallons and 500 million gallons raw sewage was being discharged daily directly into the sea without any solution in sight to stop the pollution.

“It has caused severe degradation for our eco system, marine life, and destruction of mangroves and causing damage to naval ships anchored and operational in and around naval jetty and dock yard,” said Asad Chandna.

According to the official, the severity of inflow of solid waste and slurry material into the navigational channel was so high that the KPT required Rs1.5 billion annually to dredge the harbour. The department has also hired four boats which scoop the inorganic waste and floating marine debris from the water on a daily basis including polythene and plastic. Approximately five to ten tons of debris is collected from the navigational channel daily which costs the KPT Rs10 million annually, the official lamented.

Asad Chandna informed the Senate committee that following the Supreme Court’s order, a judicial commission had been formed that had now made its personal issue to solve the problem of increasing pollution. “The commission summons a progress report from all departments concerned fortnightly,” he said.

The commission also published a report spread on 300 pages highlighting the seriousness of the pollution along the coast where the once red sandy beaches have now turned grey and black.

The official read some excerpts from the report for the committee, saying that all 6,000 industrial units including the 1,400MW thermal power plant and Pakistan Steel Mills, one of the largest industrial units, were dumping their untreated waste directly or indirectly into the Karachi and Gharo Creek areas. Approximately 500MGD industrial and domestic waste water was being generated and discharged through Lyari and Malir rivers into coastal areas, the report said.

“Untreated industrial and domestic waste water are a source of serious hazard to the coastal areas of Karachi, which is one of the highly polluted coastal belts in the world resulting in massive economic losses to the country through decrease in the export potentials of fisheries. Industries are continuously discharging untreated effluent and appear to refuse to conform to the Sindh Environmental Protection Act,” Asad Chandna quoted from the report submitted with the Supreme Court.

The chairman of the committee, MQM Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, accepted the invitation of KPT chairman Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar to visit the ports and harbours to examine the situation on the ground.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2018