Issue awaits Planning Commission's final word

KHALID AZIZ & FAREHIA REHMAN

ISLAMABAD - Stakeholders at a meeting held on Tuesday agreed to refer the controversial project of landfill at Kurri to the Planning Commission (PC) for final decision.

The meeting was chaired by the Federal Minister for Environment, Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi, while Kamran Lashari, Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA), Mazher Hussain, Member Environment, CDA, Asif Shuja, DG Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA), officials of the PC, technical experts and people of the village Kurri were also present on the occasion.

The participants of the meeting agreed to refer the CDA's Rs I billion venture to the Planning Commission for sorting out technicalities of the mega project, against which a number of technical experts and residents of the adjoining villages had expressed serious environmental concerns.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Pak-EPA has issued No Objection Certificate (NOC) to CDA for the landfill project to be built on an area of 100 acres.

CDA Member Environment Mazher Hussain, Dr Amir Haider Malik of COMSATS Institute Abbotabad gave presentation on technical aspects of the project.

Mazher, in his presentation, turned down the objections raised over the project from different quarters and elaborated that a committee comprised of prominent experts had selected Kurri area as the most suitable site for a mega landfill after examining a number of other possible sites.

He stated that the Kurri landfill was designed according to the US EPA standards, which he said was finalised after conducting through scientific studies and duly considering the technical, social and environmental aspects of the project. He added that the project, if executed, would certainly improve environment of the federal capital.