‘Steps will be taken to minimise damage to marine life, ecology at Port Qasim’

Participants of a consultative workshop were informed that the best possible mitigation measures would be adopted to minimise damage to environment and to conserve marine life and ecology of the surrounding sea area to the maximum possible extent as a new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import facility is being built at Port Qasim in Karachi.

The consultative workshop was organised the other day as part of the regulatory requirements for doing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the new LNG import terminal as envisaged under the Sindh Environmental Protection Act-2014.

Keeping in view the cause of environmental protection and conservation of marine ecology, participants of the workshop expressed their concerns over the LNG import facility at Port Qasim in Karachi, which is going to be third such terminal of the country at the same site.

Pakistan GasPort (PGP) is building the new LNG import facility as an extension to its similar under-construction LNG terminal at the same site of Port Qasim. The 600-700 mmfcd RLNG (Regasified LNG) handling and storage project will be completed by next year. The first phase of the project will be made operational by June this year.

Saleemuz Zaman of the Global Environmental Management Services, the environmental consultant of the project, informed the participants at the outset of the moot that the workshop was being organised with concerned stakeholders to meet one of the requirements laid down by ‘Review of Initial Environmental Examination and Environment Impact Assessment Regulations-2014’ of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency. 

Zaman said that workshop was being organised to duly invite and record suggestions of the stakeholders for upkeep of environment of the surrounding area on land and sea as part of the planning to conduct EIA of the project to duly fulfil the requirements of the provincial environmental law.

He said representatives of academia, non-governmental organisations, public entities and regulatory bodies had been invited to the workshop so that concerns and reservations expressed by them would be duly made part of mitigation measures to be taken in light of the EIA study of the project.

He said that the proponent of the project had expressed full resolve to adopt the best possible mitigation measures to minimise the impact on environment of surrounding areas despite the fact that LNG was considered to be the safest fuel all over the world whose storage, transportation, and consumption had only minimal effects on environment.

Nasir Pervez of the PGP in his presentation about the project said that the new terminal as an extension to the first under-construction import terminal would be having an expected annual capacity of 3.5 million tons while it could cater to 750 mmscfd (million standard cubic feet per day) peak gas rate. The proposed terminal will be built at the Mazhar point of Port Qasim having an approximate area of 15 acres, including its sea channel.

The LNG terminal project having a total capacity of 2 billion cubic feet per day when fully completed is likely to reduce gas deficit in the country by 30 percent while fuel so imported in the country would be utilised for running new power plants having a total capacity to generate 3,600 megawatts of electricity.

Participants of the workshop said that any new import facility being built at commercial harbours of the country should not cause an increase in marine pollution in the surrounding sea area as it would not be helpful for the continuity of Pakistani seafood exports to the developed countries.

Representatives of the Worldwide Fund for Nature, National Institute of Oceanography, National Forum for Environment and Health and of other concerned organisations called for replanting mangroves, doing baseline studies to monitor the levels of air and marine pollution in the area, and for establishing a centre for monitoring marine pollution in the Port Qasim as new fuel import facilities are being built there.

Officials of the Port Qasim Authority said the port authority was very much cognizant of the issue of the marine and air pollution in its area, and, for mitigating the situation, a sustained monitoring and evaluation project was being carried out to constantly keep under observation any significant damage to environment or ecology of the area. They said that Port Qasim was considered as the best place in the country for doing mangrove plantation, and for this cause the PQA had been getting support from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The PQA officials assured the participants that international consultants had carried out proper security risk assessment of the port area for the upcoming LNG import terminal projects as all the concerned law-enforcement and security agencies were now fully part of the comprehensive security plan being put in place for Port Qasim, especially for coal and LNG imports.