KARACHI: Concerns related to serious environmental degradation affecting the federally administered Port Qasim area dominated the proceedings of a public hearing held at a hotel on Thursday.

Among other reservations, questions were raised as to why the area had been heavily industrialised without assessing the cumulative impact of projects.

The public hearing called by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) pertained to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of a proposed project titled ‘Expansion of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and VCM (vinyl chloride monomer) manufacturing plant’ by Engro Polymer and Chemicals Limited (EPCL).

The EIA report was prepared by Hagler Bailly Pakistan (HB-P).

The project site is located in the eastern industrial zone of Port Qasim and southern part of Malir district.

The programme started off with a brief presentation on the project by Athar Abrar Khawaja, manager of the Engro project, who explained the design, major processes and operational controls of the existing plant.

The project, according to the details shared in the programme, aims to increase production of PVC — a chemical used in the manufacturing of numerous plastic products — and VCM (raw material for PVC) from 195ktpy to 295ktpy and from 195ktpy to 245ktpy respectively.

This would be done by establishing another PVC plant within the boundaries of the existing facility. The project will also include other modifications, for instance, the addition of a 7km-long import line for ethylene dichloride and installation of another VCM storage tank.

On corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, he said that the company planned to install five filtration plants in the area and a health clinic.

Giving a presentation on the EIA report, Vaqar Zakaria representing HB-P said that the sampling data was collected to assess air and water quality, and noise levels, apart from secondary data on topography, geology, seismicity and climate.

“While all other data on air quality complied with Sindh Environmental Quality Standards (SEQS), the sulphur dioxide concentrations exceeded the annual SEQS,” he said, adding that traffic on Port Qasim access roads and combustion points where coal, petrol and diesel were being used as fuel are major sources of sulphur dioxide emissions.

Pointing to high environmental pollution in Port Qasim, he said: “Its ecology is headed towards a disaster. The area faces serious environmental issues which have emerged due to massive dredging, discharge of all kinds of waste into the creek system, destruction of mangroves and even fishing with the help of small mesh-sized nets. The larger picture of this area needs a lot of attention.”

Sharing some EIA report data, he said that an estimated 59,000 people lived in the surveyed settlements of the study area and that water availability was a major problem being faced by locals as most underground water was saline and brackish.

Replying to a question on pollution in the Port Qasim area during the question-answer session, Waqar Hussain Phulpoto representing Sepa said that it was only after the water commission took up the case of marine and environmental pollution that Sepa staff was allowed to visit Port Qasim for inspection.

“Such a state of affairs is indeed a source of embarrassment for us. However, things have changed after the Supreme Court intervened,” he admitted, adding that the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) had committed to the court to build two combined effluent plants in its jurisdiction.

Saquib Ejaz Hussain, a senior environmentalist, criticised the PQA and questioned whether they had a master plan. “The PQA allowed the destruction of mangroves grown over 200 hectares by Engro under permission from PQA, as well as of naturally grown mangroves for different projects, ignoring their protected status.”

He called upon Sepa to review its SEQS including that of air quality which had been raised unjustifiably and were contributing to pollution.

“Another violation (in Port Qasim) is the discharge of untreated waste by industries into Badal Nala, which is a storm-water drain,” he said, expressing concern over Sepa’s role and authority.

Dr Syed Raza Ali Gardezi representing Citizens for Environment urged Sepa to have a uniform standard for the number of trees planted to compensate for the vegetation lost due to a project.

To concerns related to human and environmental safety, Mr Khawaja said that the proposed plant wouldn’t generate any hazardous solid waste whereas liquid waste would be treated in the already operational treatment plant.

“Apart from local standards, we also follow international standards. Health screening of staff is a regular feature of our operation that also includes weekly emergency drills. The data on the operation is regularly submitted to Sepa,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2018

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