Notice issued on plea against beachfront high-rise project in Karachi.

KARACHI -- An environmental tribunal has issued notice to the chief executive officer (CEO) of a private company on a complaint challenging construction of multi-storey residential-cum-commercial towers along the seafront allegedly without obtaining the mandatory approval from the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa).

The tribunal headed by retired Justice Nisar Mohammad Shaikh also told Mohammad Hasnain, the CEO of M/s HMR Waterfront Private Limited, to file his reply till Jan 17.

Mohammad Iqbal Brohi, a resident of Defence Housing Authority, Phase-VI, had filed a complaint against the respondent under Section 26(2)(b) of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014 for carrying out construction work on the project without fulfilling legal requirements.

He submitted that the respondent construction firm was proponent of the project named 'HMR Waterfront Development', a residential-cum commercial multi-storey towers project, on which the construction work had commenced at the site on the Abdul Sattar Edhi Avenue, in Zone-E of the DHA Waterfront, in Phase-VIII.

A DHA resident challenges construction of multi-storey residential and commercial project without Sepa approval

He further submitted that the respondent had started construction work on the said project without getting any approval from the Sepa as required under Section 17 of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014.

His counsel Irfan Halepota argued that it was mandatory under Section 17 of the Act that every proponent of a project should file an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) of the project with Sepa and get an approval from it before commencing the construction work.

He informed the tribunal that the complainant had sent a notice to Sepa under Section 26(3)(b) of the Act, 2014 to take notice of such an illegal activity, but no action had been taken so far by...