KARACHI: The director general of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has signed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the Malir Expressway in what appears to be an attempt to save him and the controversial project from legal troubles, it emerged on Wednesday.

It was transpired during the hearing of appeals against Malir Expressway before the Sindh Environmental Tribunal when a lawyer also produced a copy of the ‘fresh’ EIA report dated June 10 and signed by Sepa DG Muhammad Naeem Mughal.

The EIA approval was earlier in April granted by a Sepa deputy director and environmentalist challenged this act stating that an official grant of the approval was required to be signed by the director general. In this respect, they cited the order of the environmental tribunal in the Seaview commercialisation case in which it clearly stated that approval was an appealable order and needed to be signed by the director general himself.

When the hearing began before the tribunal headed by retired Justice Nisar Ahmed Sheikh, an official appeared on behalf of Sepa and submitted the record of proceedings related to the process of EIA approval for the proposed project in compliance with the earlier directives of the tribunal.

Malir residents, environmentalists challenged EIA approval given in April by a deputy director

Advocate Ravi Pinjani, who represented M/s Malir Expressway Limited, also produced a copy of the ‘fresh’ EIA report dated June 10 and signed by Sepa director general removing the appellants’ objection that the earlier EIA report was signed by a deputy director who got no legal authority to issue such an approval under the law.

Regarding the merits of the appeals, the counsel argued that the appellants never raised any environmental concerns with regard to the environment of the metropolis.

He argued that since the tribunal’s domain was environmental concerns and the appeals should be dismissed for lacking merit since the appellants did not highlight any environmental adversity in the proposed project.

The counsel challenged the appellants’ locus standi, arguing that they were not directly aggrieved by the proposed project, while they did not highlight any adversity by the proposed cutting of trees or air pollution, etc, in their appeals.

He maintained that with the construction of the Malir Expressway “we will have primary advantage that Western portion of the metropolis is connected through bypasses, but there is no such bypasses connectivity in the Eastern corridor. Therefore, this project will connect the city with far-flung parts including Korangi Industrial Area, the Defence Housing Authority and other areas on the outskirts”.

Advocate Pinjani argued that at present the average daily commuting time in the Eastern corridor was 90 minutes, adding that with the construction of the Malir Expressway this commuting time would be reduced to 30 minutes on average day.

“The overall impact is positive for the metropolis, since this is not any commercial or residential project, but a highway,” he added.

The company’s lawyer further highlighted that around 1,800 trees coming in the way of the expressway were to be cut down, but Sepa had advised to grow 19,000 trees — three rows of trees cover on either side of the expressway — to maintain environmental balance in the area.

Lastly, the counsel submitted that the project currently costing Rs27 billion, out of which 72 per cent is publically funded since it’s a consortium of banks and the Sindh government.

He opposed the appellants’ requests for granting an interim stay order against any construction activity at the site, and cautioned that if due to any technical reasons the project was stayed the costs would spiral up given the growing rate of inflation.

He pleaded the tribunal not to consider any technicalities while considering the project overall to the environment. He pleaded to dismiss the appeals for being devoid of merits.

However, the appellants’ counsel, Kazim Hussain Mahesar and Muhammad Imran Kalmati, once again made a request to the tribunal to pass an interim stay order, restraining the respondent firm from carrying out construction work on the river bed, saying it was causing serious hazardous to the environment.

They requested that any sort of construction in the area might be stayed till the final disposal of the appeals.

However, the tribunal did not pass any order on the stay application and directed Sepa counsel to advance final arguments on the next date.

The location of the project, as per the EIA approval, is starting from right before the Jam Sadiq bridge on Korangi Road and run along the right bank of the Malir river through the Korangi and Malir districts, terminating on M-9 near DHA City outside Karachi.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2022