Environmental impact: Deep sea terminal will not affect ecology, KPT tells SHC

Port trust denies accusations that the project restricts access to the seashore.

KARACHI:

The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) authorities assured the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday that their deep sea container terminal project will not disturb the ecological cycle in the Arabian Sea.

The port trust quoted an Environmental Protection Agency report that gave its approval for the project after carrying out impact assessment. The trust authorities made this claim during the hearing of a petition challenging the multi-billion-rupee project as part of the port’s expansion.



The KPT chairperson filed his comments, submitting that the petitioner is not aggrieved by the construction of the project in any manner, as he has no locus standi to file the case, which may be dismissed.

The chairperson also refuted the petitioner’s claims that the construction of the deep sea container terminal has denied public access to the seashore. “Everybody has access to the coast,” he said. The comments also clarified that the terminal project is not being constructed in violation of the fundamental rights of the sea-goers, as alleged by the petitioner. The project will provide job opportunities to millions of people directly or indirectly and will boost the economy, the chairperson added.

The KPT chief maintained that the trust has a right to expand the port within its territorial limits, adding that the port is required to be developed and constructed according to international standards. Modern equipment and technologies will be installed to cope with the incoming and outgoing traffic, the chief claimed.

There are mangroves over 900 hectors of the land within the limits of the port trust, which also include the nursery for the world’s most precious species of turtles, the port trust pointed out. “The project will have least disturbance to the ecology,” he claimed.

Headed by the Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, the bench took the KPT chief’s comments on record. It ordered the ports and shipping, environment and tourism, Karachi commissioner and the South district deputy commissioner to file their detailed comments within 15 days without fail.

Case history

Abdul Jabbar Khan, who lives in an apartment complex at the beachfront where the project is being executed, had gone to court against the port and shipping ministry, provincial and local authorities for allegedly constructing the deep sea container terminal at the cost of the ecology.

He had claimed that the fundamental rights of the public, particularly the residents of Karachi, will be violated due to encroachment on the Clifton beach, which was the only beach accessible to the public in the port city. Located about a kilometre off the seashore in front of Clifton Block 1 and Block 2, the beautiful rocks are a “natural gift for the safety of humans as well as wildlife”, said Khan, adding that the rocks play an important role against earthquakes.

“The lives of millions of people in Karachi may be at risk in case a natural disaster strikes because the rocks were being dismantled by heavy dredgers to pave the way for the terminal’s construction,” he had claimed.

Referring to a survey conducted by Japanese experts for the deep sea terminal, Khan said that the study had clearly suggested that the terminal should be established on the western waters. The port trust decided, however, to establish the terminal on the eastern front for reasons best known to the authorities, he claimed.

Around 15 square kilometres, including the Clifton beach, have been ‘encroached’ to build the port, depriving people of recreational opportunities, the petitioner alleged, appealing to the court to declare the construction of the deep sea container terminal illegal and permanently restrain the authorities from expanding the port. “Rather, they should be ordered to restore the beach,” he had claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2014.