CDA given 10 days to get CDWP nod for treatment plants

SC tells civic body to hand over land to waste treatment firm to set up plant

ISLAMABAD: The apex court on Thursday gave the top civic agency of the federal capital 10 days to present a report on setting up solid waste treatment plants for the polluted Rawal Lake after securing the nod from the federal government.

Moreover, the body was told to hand over designated land to a waste management company forthwith.

The directions were issued by a two-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), headed by Justice Umer Ata Bandial, as it heard a case on the polluted waters of the lake.

During Thursday’s hearing, the SC was told that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) plans to build four new solid waste treatment plants in the federal capital on water flows between Murree and the Rawal Lake.

These plants are part of the short-term measures to curtail water pollution in the lake.

Moreover, the CDA said that it had allotted around five acres of land in Lakhwal, along the banks of the lake near Bani Gala to dump solid waste.

At this, the court directed to hand over the designated land in Lakhwal to a solid waste company to build a treatment plant.

Moreover, the court directed the CDA to submit the projects for approval from the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and to submit a report to the court within 10 days.

As part of short-term measures, the court asked the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council Official (PARC) Research Officer Muhammad Munir to continue his research on clean and cheap energy sources such as biogas.

The SC then adjourned the hearing for two weeks with directions for taking more short-term steps to purify the waters of the lake.

Late last year, CDA officials had revealed that as many as 64 illegal housing schemes built in the federal capital were dumping their waste into the lake, polluting its waters.

These housing societies, the official had said, had failed to obtain the due no-objection certificate (NOC) from the CDA or had the mandatory environment impact assessment reports from the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA).

The CDA had initially planned to build five Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in the catchment areas of the federal capital. However, the project has been facing bureaucratic hiccups while the presence of illegal settlements in and around the designated project sites was making the task even harder.

According to the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC), the plants were to be installed in the catchment areas of Bari Imam, Lower and Upper Shahdra and Simly dam. Officials had estimated that it may take up to half a year to get its PC-I approved from the Planning Commission due to some technical issues.

Shuttle service case adjourned

An accountability court has adjourned the hearing of a case pertaining to the shuttle service in the federal capital until next month.

During Thursday’s hearing, the suspect Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu was presented before the Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir.

Since the prosecution failed to present the corruption reference against the suspect, the case was adjourned.

The suspect is accused of favouritism in allotting the tender for the shuttle service which was started by CDA in the diplomatic enclave in 2005 to facilitate people visiting embassies through a singular transportation service at minimal fares.

The corruption in the allotment of tenders resulted in a deficit while the case against the officials landed in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) through the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). However, the inquiry against the case by NAB has been pending for several years.

The suspects include for CDA official Brig (retired) Nusratullah, former Planning director general Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu along with contractors Muhammad Hussain and Munir Jillani.

The case was adjourned until March 1.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2019.