EPA to hold public hearing for Sangjani landfill

Stakeholders will present arguments for and against the initiative

ISLAMABAD:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Pakistan will conduct a public hearing on the permanent landfill, proposed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) near Sangjani, on Tuesday.

According to an official of EPA, all the relevant stakeholders had been informed about the public hearing to hear their arguments for and against the initiative.

To the surprise of many, the capital city has been lacking a permanent landfill site since its inception in 1967 and the plans for its development in past could not be materialized for one reason or another.

During the past, the civic agencies including CDA and Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) have selected multiple sites like Kurri landfill and others but unfortunately all kind of waste is still being stashed in sector I-12 where the citizens are bearing the brunt of that makeshift arrangement.

"Yes, the city has been deprived of a permanent landfill for the last several decades and this time also some miscreants are making all-out efforts to disrupt our plan of setting up a landfill on scientific pattern near Sangjani," CDA Director Sanitation Department Sardar Khan Zimri said while talking to APP.

He said the development of scientific landfill near Sangjani was an initiative of paramount importance for people of Islamabad as its population had doubled in the last two decades.

The Director said his department was forced to dispose of the trash in residential area due to absence of a permanent facility. He said in present times, there was a dire need for ensuring proper disposal of solid waste in the capital city to ensure clean and green environment under Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision. At least 600 tonnes of garbage was being generated in the capital city on daily basis, he added.

He maintained that the site proposed by CDA near Sangjain was a deserted land not 'green one', alleging that some vested interests were resisting the initiative with no solid reason to contest against the initiative.

When asked about residents' concern on foul stench in the area , he said 100 hectares of land near Sangjani was proposed by a consultant hired by the CDA in a feasibility study for the project.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2020.