First step: Clean Development Fund gets licence from SECP
Move will help make Pak-EPA financially autonomous
Move will help make Pak-EPA financially autonomous. STOCK IMAGE
ISLAMABAD:
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Wednesday issued a licence to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) for the establishment of a clean development fund (CDF), a significant step towards making environment watchdog financially autonomous.
Pak-EPA will apply to the SECP for incorporation of the Clean Development Company in the next couple of days.
The government has provided an initial Rs5 million for incorporation of the CDF, while Pak-EPA is focusing on generating its own resources through joint ventures with local multinational companies which can contribute through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.
“We will encourage local and multinational companies to develop joint ventures with Pak-EPA to fulfil their CSR...it would be a major sources of revenue generation for CDF,” Pak-EPA Environment Director Ziaul Islam told The Express Tribune. Technical services provided by Pak-EPA will also be utilised to generate funds for the CDF, he said.
The amount generated would be utilised for funding environment-related projects which have stalled due to funding issues.
The environmentalists termed it as a significant achievement and said that the establishment of a CDF would help Pak-EPA towards achieving financial autonomy. However, they linked its functionality with the chairman and board of directors being more proactive.
The experts hoped that the CDF would not end up in the same situation as the national environmental coordination committee (NECC) which is also headed by the Pak-EPA director general. They said a marine pollution control board established in June 1994 and was functioning with the Pakistan Navy chief as its chairman, and was transferred to the ministry of communications in 1999. It remained functional under the chairmanship of the communications minister till September 2001. The board was then disbanded and its functions were assigned to the national coordination committee (NECC).
Not a single meeting of this committee has been held so far because of bureaucratic wrangling among committee members.
Incidentally, the DGs of Ports and Shipping and the Marine Security Agency (MSA), both rear admirals and members of the committee, outrank the chair — a BS-20 officer. The Pakistan Environmental Council, which is headed by the prime minister, has not met regularly either.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2015.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Wednesday issued a licence to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) for the establishment of a clean development fund (CDF), a significant step towards making environment watchdog financially autonomous.
Pak-EPA will apply to the SECP for incorporation of the Clean Development Company in the next couple of days.
The government has provided an initial Rs5 million for incorporation of the CDF, while Pak-EPA is focusing on generating its own resources through joint ventures with local multinational companies which can contribute through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.
“We will encourage local and multinational companies to develop joint ventures with Pak-EPA to fulfil their CSR...it would be a major sources of revenue generation for CDF,” Pak-EPA Environment Director Ziaul Islam told The Express Tribune. Technical services provided by Pak-EPA will also be utilised to generate funds for the CDF, he said.
The amount generated would be utilised for funding environment-related projects which have stalled due to funding issues.
The environmentalists termed it as a significant achievement and said that the establishment of a CDF would help Pak-EPA towards achieving financial autonomy. However, they linked its functionality with the chairman and board of directors being more proactive.
The experts hoped that the CDF would not end up in the same situation as the national environmental coordination committee (NECC) which is also headed by the Pak-EPA director general. They said a marine pollution control board established in June 1994 and was functioning with the Pakistan Navy chief as its chairman, and was transferred to the ministry of communications in 1999. It remained functional under the chairmanship of the communications minister till September 2001. The board was then disbanded and its functions were assigned to the national coordination committee (NECC).
Not a single meeting of this committee has been held so far because of bureaucratic wrangling among committee members.
Incidentally, the DGs of Ports and Shipping and the Marine Security Agency (MSA), both rear admirals and members of the committee, outrank the chair — a BS-20 officer. The Pakistan Environmental Council, which is headed by the prime minister, has not met regularly either.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2015.