LHC issues stay order for establishment of coal power project in Sahiwal

ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered suspension of the establishment of a coal power project in Sahiwal district of Punjab.
According to court papers, the 1320 MW coal plant being developed in Sahiwal under the patronage of the Punjab Government has a huge environmental issue. It is right in the centre of Pakistan’s best agricultural fields and would affect the health of humans, animal and crops besides affecting nearby industry.
The coal power plants cannot possibly be allowed to be established in the vicinity of an area having a huge population and enriched with agricultural land as it is capable of causing serious health issues and can also lead to several environmental problems.
It has come to the knowledge from various quarters that the entire process of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for this project was undertaken in a cursory manner and with undue haste without involving the concerned shareholders. Not only this, the EIA report contains discrepancies and errors which are deliberately motivated to push the project through in an illegal manner.
It is believed that this project also did not fall under the limits of the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) and is breaching those limits. As a result of this the ambient air conditions in the surrounding area will deteriorate which will destroy the environment in that area and will expose everyone to serious health hazards besides affecting industrial units.
The Lahore High Court has taken account of all of these things which issued the stay order. It has also commented that while the world is doing away with coal power plants, Pakistan is going in the opposite direction.
Even if coal plants are developed, they are put up in coastal or remote areas where the risk is minimal. Also, a new coal power project has to take care that is not affecting other power plants in the vicinity which are on clean fuel. On top of it, the Sahiwal coal plant will transport imported coal from Karachi to Sahiwal by rail which is very expensive and would require huge subsidy and will also put the frail railway infrastructure under tremendous pressure at the cost of the rail passengers. It will also spoil environment all along the way. Other affected parties have also already filed petitions in Lahore High Court.