LAHORE
ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Department (EPD) Punjab is still waiting for the orders of the Punjab government to carry out Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for three LNG-based power projects, which were earlier planned to run on imported coal.
EPD sources said the three new LNG-based power plants would be of 1200mw each and possibly be constructed in Kasur, Sheikhupura and Jhang districts while the only coal-fired power plant would be constructed in Sahiwal and EPD had already issued EIA report for this coal power plant.
EPD sources revealed that USA had also raised serious objections to the establishment of these 6000mw coal-based power plants in Punjab and termed it a potential environment disaster in the offing.
Sources in EPD said the department had earlier carried out detailed surveys and inspections of six sites for establishing coal-fired power plants of 6,000mw in six districts. The announcement of coal fired power plants was done by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in January 2014, but just after one year the Ministry of Water and Power announced abandoning five of the six projects on various pretexts, including environmental issues.
Environmentalists believed that coal-fired power plants were major polluters and affected the environment badly. They claimed that coal plants caused significant water pollution because it needed a lot of water for cooling system. Sources said the government was considering sites close to the canals or river beds, which means it intended to intake water from these sources and then throw back the water back into the system.
They said major constituents of the coal-based plant’s waste streams were arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, boron, selenium, bromides, nitrogen and phosphorus.
The government has planned to establish LNG Power Plants in 18 months time, a senior EPD official said, adding that all the previous efforts and resources used by the department for site inspections, surveys and for
carrying out other modalities went to the bin and now totally a new effort would be done for the LNG-based power plants. He said the government didn’t approve any extra expenditure for this task and the department had to cut down its development schemes to meet the expenses.
So far the government has not directed the EPD to carry out any inspections and site surveys vis-à-vis construction of LNG based power plants, sources said, adding that EIA reports of the sites were not submitted to the EPD for approval.
Sources said the government had already wasted almost one year in coal-based power plants and now it suddenly shifted its policy and went for LNG. Sources said in January 2015, the Ministry of Water and Power approached National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and sought approval of a tariff of Rs8.85/unit for LNG-based power projects in Punjab.
When contacted, EPD spokesman said so far the department didn’t get any official intimation regarding the establishment of LNG Power Projects as well as no EIA reports were submitted to EPD for approval. On a question that the government has also planned to lay a 1,100km north-south pipeline to transport LNG, EPD spokesman said the department had no information in this regard and no EIA report of any such project was established to the department for approval.