• Orders govt to set up monitoring committee to implement certain conditions
• Appellants’ lawyer says verdict will be challenged in SHC

KARACHI: Rejecting major objections raised against a multi-billion-rupee controversial project, the Sindh Environmental Protection Tribunal on Saturday allowed the provincial government and other authorities to continue to carry out construction work on Malir Expressway but ordered a monitoring committee to implement over two-dozen conditions set out by it.

The three-member tribunal, headed by retired Justice Nisar Ahmed Shaikh, pronounced its verdict reserved after hearing both sides last month.

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The tribunal disposed of an appeal challenging issuance of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Malir Expressway project by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) in alleged violation of environmental laws.

It also rejected legal objections of the appellants including the project’s approval allegedly issued by an unauthorised officer and EIA approval reportedly given without consultation to advisory committee constituted under Section 5(6) of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014.

The tribunal also turned down the objections raised by the respondents including the locus standi of the appellants to challenge the EIA approval and filing of the appeal after stipulated period.

The appeal was jointly filed by some residents of Malir and an environmentalist in 2022 asking the tribunal to declare that the EIA approval accorded by Sepa as unlawful and without authority.

The appellants had submitted that Sepa accorded the EIA approval on April 6, 2022 to the Malir Expressway Ltd in alleged violations of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Review of Initial Environmental Examination and Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations, 2014.

The proposed project is described in the EIA approval as a 38.75-kilometer-long six-lane dual carriageway that will allow a direct route for heavy vehicles from the industrial areas in Korangi and Landhi to outside the city.

The EIA approval further stated that the location of the project was 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.

The appellants’ counsel, Zubair Abro, told Dawn that the tribunal allowed the proponent to continue the construction work, but appointed a committee to be headed by a grade-20 officer to monitor around 30 conditions set out by it.

He said that the judgement had not been provided to the appellants as yet. After obtaining the document next week, the appellants will file an appeal before the Sindh High Court against the decision, he added.

In February, the tribunal had reserved its ruling after hearing arguments from counsel for the appellants and M/s Malir Expressway Limited as well as Sepa.

The counsel for the appellants had argued that after the appellants had filed the plea the Sepa director general had issued a ‘fresh’ EIA report of the project, which was previously issued by a deputy director without his lawful authority and mandate.

On the other hand, the lawyer for the private construction firm had argued that the Sepa chief did not reissue a fresh EIA report, but it was the continuation of the process of EIA initially approved by a deputy director within the ambit of the relevant laws.

Sepa had contended that the appeal was not maintainable since the same was time-barred and filed after 30 days. It added that the project’s EIA was approved on April 6, 2022 while the appeal was filed on May 13 with an unexplained delay of about a week.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2023