Construction of skyscrapers: minister vows to ensure implementation of environmental laws

Caretaker Minister for Information and Environment Sindh, Jameel Yusuf has expressed his serious concern over unchecked construction of high-rise buildings and other commercial projects in the city disregarding the relevant environmental laws which should strictly be implemented.
He said this during a meeting with a delegation of National Forum for Environment & Health (NFEH), adding that the caretaker provincial government would try its best to regulate such unchecked construction activities in the city so that the high-rise commercial ventures should be built in accordance with the environmental and civic laws.
He said that efforts would also be made to convince the builders of such commercial buildings to reserve a portion of their projects for greenery. He said that Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) should also ensure strict implementation of the laws to reverse the alarming phenomenon of environmental deterioration.
He was of the viewpoint that the SEPA could play an active role in resolution of serious environmental issues persisting in the province. He said that civic and environmental issues in Karachi have become compounded owing to poor performance by the relevant agencies of provincial and local governments over last several years.
These civic and government agencies failed to implement the relevant municipal and environmental laws that led to the alarming increase in air pollution, unchecked vehicular emissions, and physical encroachments all over the city. Jameel Yusuf said that the concerned government authorities and non-governmental organizations should join forces to improve working of the agencies responsible to implement vital civic and environmental laws in the city.
He said that tree plantation should be done all over the city under a full-fledged campaign to promote tree cover in Karachi. He said that the government, its relevant agencies, and concerned people should get their act together to remove physical encroachments existing in the city on a massive scale.
Jameel Yusuf said that the caretaker Sindh government would soon convene a meeting of the concerned NGOs, civil society organizations, representative bodies of industries, and relevant govt and municipal agencies to adopt a collective strategy to tackle all these alarming civic and environmental issues persisting in Karachi.
He said that conducting a full-fledged plantation drive in Karachi was need of the hour. In this regard, the corporate sector and associations representing industrial estates in the city should take initiative to improve tree cover in their respective areas. Yusuf on the occasion appreciated the plantation drive conducted by NFEH over past some years saying that the caretaker provincial government would lend support to further expand this drive in Karachi.
NFEH President Naeem Qureshi greeted Yusuf on assuming the responsibilities as one of the key members of caretaker government set-up in the province. Qureshi invited the provincial minister to attend the upcoming 15h Annual Environment Excellence Awards and Conference-2018 as a chief guest. The event will be held at a hotel of the city on 17th July, 2018.
He briefed the provincial minister that the NFEH would launch its annual plantation drive in Karachi on 5 July, 2018 as efforts would be made to plant around 50,000 tree saplings all over the city with support of other like-minded NGOs and representative bodies of businessmen and industrialists.
Qureshi also briefed the caretaker Sindh minister about efforts and campaigns run by the NFEH to promote the cause of environmental protection in the city and to lessen damages caused due to air pollution. One such latest campaign was related to the presence of coal yard of Karachi Port Trust much nearer to the posh residential localities of Clifton as owing to open dumping, storage, and transportation of imported coal; environment of the city and health of the area residents had been facing serious threats, he said.
He said that Supreme Court finally took cognizance of the issue and ordered the KPT to immediately stop handling and open storage of imported coal in the port and nearby areas. Other members of the NFEH delegation who met the provincial minister included Engineer Nadeem Ashraf, Mustafa Tahir, Saquib Ejaz Hussain, and Jhon Richard.