Waste To Energy Project-1

‘Waste to energy’ project yet to start after a year

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

A MULTI-purpose “waste to energy” project for producing electricity and manure with biogas produced from the waste of 400,000 cattle heads has yet to start one year after the project was announced, Daily Times learnt Friday.
The deal to set up a 135-million-dollar biogas power generation plant in Landhi was signed between the city government and New Zealand firm Empower Consultants Ltd on July 24, 2006. The city nazim announced that the pilot project would be functional within six months and would produce natural gas (methane), which can be used as CNG or converted into 30 MW of electricity, and around 15 tonnes of enriched organic fertilizer per day. The pilot project was supposed to be set up with a financial grant from the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID).
City Nazim Mustafa Kamal, last year, announced that work on the project would start July 25, 2006 and its first phase pilot project would be made operational in six months. But after one year, the foreign firm, which was given four acres of land by the city government, has not started the project.
Enterprises and Investment Promotion Department District Officer (Investment) S. M. Abbas confirmed that four acres of land was given in Cattle Colony, Landhi but the firm has not started the project yet. “We have sent multiple letters to warn the firm that if they do not start the work the agreement will be cancelled and awarded to another firm,” he said.
He also mentioned that the New Zealand firm’s local partner, National Engineering Corporation, has been given multiple letters asking to initiate the project but a satisfactory reply has yet to arrive. “It is worth mentioning that the award was given to that firm after evaluating 10 local and foreign firms. We have another American firm which is interested in this project,” he said.
Sources in the city government also mentioned that the May 12 incident and the current instability of the political scenario have caused the New Zealand Government to avoid large investments. “The officials of Empower Consultants were supposed to hold a meeting on July 21 but it never took place because of the instability,” sources added.
Feroze Shah, National Engineer Corporation director, hoped that the project would be set up soon. We have applied for carbon credit from the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and after approval, the project will be viable for investors,” he said. He said that under the Kyoto Protocol, every country has to obtain carbon credits which set a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted by an industry.
He said the biogas plant will produce one million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year and that will be converted to produce electricity if the project gets approved by the UNFCCC. “The UNFCCC has set a minimum rate of $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide and the investors will have to pay $10 million for the credits,” he said.
“We submitted the project’s design report to the UNFCCC. It was given to a German-based firm, TUV, for validation. The German firm took five to six months and completed the report one week ago. Now it has been submitted to the UNFCCC board for approval, which will take some time,” he said.
He also mentioned that there are five to six major international investors ready to invest in this project which was actually thought of in 1998 (almost 10 years ago). “The renowned firms represent different trading houses from Japan, Germany, Britain and the Asian Development Bank and they are ready to put their capital in this unique project,” he said. The biogas generation plant will be one of the biggest in the world because no other place has such a great number of cattle heads in one place.
It is pertinent to mentioned that the city’s Cattle Colony has been around for the last five decades in Landhi, about 20 kilometres from the city center. There are more than 400,000 cattle heads not only meeting the increasing demand for fresh milk and meat but also producing 7,000 tonnes of solid manure, which is dumped into the sea through the Korangi Creek.
-Published in Daily Times | Aug 20, 2007

Friends Square in Model Colony

Real estate turns crumbly but residents stand firm

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

THE people living in the three-storey Friends Square apartment building have been told by the KBCA that they must leave because the structure is unsafe. The problem is that they are all poor and would have no place to go.
“The government is giving Rs5,000 as compensation to the students of Lal Masjid who challenged the law,” said one occupant. “But the government can’t pay attention to people living in risky conditions.”
The state of the ground-plus-two floor building on the 307-square yard plot Number 427, Bostan Raza Society in Model Colony, Malir, is bad. The walls are cracked from the ground to the top and the roof’s plaster has fallen.
“I have been living in this building for the last four years but the owners never spent a single penny on maintenance,” said Azeem Farooqui of flat Number A-3. “The government should at least provide shelter for all 15 families.”
The KBCA had declared the building dangerous some six months ago and asked the civic agencies to cut off the connections. “KESC disconnected their connections but the residents have been using illegal ‘kundas’ in connivance with KESC officials,” Farooqui said. Another resident confirmed that the KESC, SSGC and KWSB are owed hefty bills in service charges. “Some two years ago, the aggravated residents pulled down the KESC meters after they disconnected the electricity,” he said. The tenants now use gas cylinders in their kitchens.
Saeeda has been living in flat No. A-1 for the last 20 years with her children after her husband died in an accident. “The level of brackish water is much higher than that of the surrounding localities which is why the floors are crumbling,” she said, adding that she doesn’t have enough money to move elsewhere if they are evicted because she supports her family by teaching the Quran.
Others have followed the rules by the book. Safia, for example, is the owner of one of the flats, and has a proper gas connection. “We recently purchased this flat for Rs 100,000 and obtained a court order for the SSGC connection because they had been disconnected on the directives of the KBCA,” she said.
-Published in Daily Times | July 06, 2007

CDGK Budget 2007-08

Mustafa Kamal presents Rs45b budget for 2007-08

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

THE city nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal, presented Saturday a tax-free budget of Rs 45.695 billion for the fiscal year of 2007-08 with a surplus of Rs 216.53 million. The budget was presented at the City Council Secretariat amid chaos as the Opposition members described it as illegal.
The session to adopt the city government’s budget was presided over by city naib nazim, Nasreen Jalil. As soon as she invited the city nazim to present the budget, Opposition leader Saeed Ghani spoke up, terming the budget illegal. He said that the budget should not be presented, as according to him, the budget documents had a number of violations of the SLGO 2001 budget rules.
At this point, the convener asked the Opposition members to avoid showing “their traditional attitude of creating hurdles in the proceedings of the session”. After this, Kamal started his speech.
“The members of the Opposition are frustrated as they had cheated their people over initiating development projects in their respective areas and the citizens will not allow them to come to their houses next year,” he claimed and added that the people who had vested interests in this country had failed to stop the journey of development projects.
“This is one of the major and historical budgets of the City District Government Karachi, as a huge amount has been allocated for development,” he said.
He further claimed that due to their development projects and initiatives to benefit citizens, the members of the Opposition were unable to go to their houses. “If they [Opposition members] promise not to take part in the forthcoming local government elections, we will visit their respective areas to request people to forgive them,” he said.
This statement infuriated the Opposition members, who left their seats and shouted slogans against the government at the top of their voices. They also tore the budget copies and threw them in to the air.
Some of the slogans they shouted were “Jhoot hai, Jhoot hai” (All lies), “Ghair qanooni budget na manzoor” (Illegal budget, not acceptable), and “Jeay Bhutto” (Long Live Bhutto – a reference to the PPP-strong opposition). Amid the uproar, the city nazim gave details of the budget.
As soon as the city nazim concluded his speech, the convenor announced the adjournment of the session for half an hour. After the resumption of the session, Ahsan Siddiqi of the treasury benches, appreciated the budget and criticized the role of the opposition members during the city nazim’s speech. “This budget will be approved without any debate,” he said.
The chairman of the city government’s budget committee, Afaq Baig, also criticized the behaviour of the opposition members and requested the house to approve the budget without any delay.
Masood Mehmood from the treasury benches also requested the convenor to conduct the counting on the budget and approve it. He further said that they would not allow the Opposition to say anything on the floor of the house.
The leader of the house, Asif Siddiqi, said that the aim of the Opposition was to create pandemonium everywhere, and added that the resolution to approve the budget should be tabled without any delay.
In the meantime, the opposition leader, Saeed Ghani had tried to convey to the house to initiate a debate on the budget as he gave the names of 30 opposition members. The convenor of the house rejected and said that the opposition members had spoiled the budget session and that they would not be allowed to debate on it. She further asked for the presentation of the budget resolution that was adopted on a majority basis as the opposition abstained from taking part.
-Published in Daily Times | July 1, 2007

Shops for sencond-hand musical instruments

A heaven for music lovers — scrap market in Saddar

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

SADDAR the city center, is one of the oldest part of the Karachi have dozens of sites to offering everyday a unique variety of items to the astonishing visitors not only the locals but also to the foreigners. Such bazaars in narrow lanes on the rare of high-rise buildings as well as unnoticeable streets for regular visitors spread all over the Saddar in which one located in the backside of Jehangir Park.
Around 20-shops which had been occupied a good portion of narrow lane behind the Jehangir Park and thriving business of imported second hand shoes, satchels, toys, traveling bags, T-shirts, P-caps, waist-belts and a huge variety of audiotapes. Half of the shops in this narrow lane in Saddar have been decorated with hundreds of imported branded and unbranded acoustic guitars, electric guitars, base guitars, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, keyboards, amplifiers and other related items of music.
“We had procured this lot of music instruments from the brokers who bring these in Karachi from Afghan via Chaman border. Thanks to Afghan Transit”, said Wajid Ali one of the shop owner. He said they had converted their shops from secondhand shoes and other articles to guitars and other musical instruments some five months ago and they witness a good response from the music lovers.
“Presently there are a large number of youngsters who love to play musical instruments besides their social taboos and financial constrains. The existing decorated shops offering such music instruments located in different parts of the city including North Nazimabad, Gulshan and Defence area but the prices are skyrocketing and could be affordable for elite class”, another shopkeeper known as Khan Bhai said.
He mentioned that the prices of guitars in this market are between Rs1500 to Rs6000 for the acoustic, electric and base guitars which are 70 percent less then the prices offering in the shops of posh areas.
Elaborating the details of other instruments like pianos, keyboards and amplifiers from different renowned brands, he said all shopkeepers in this market have consisted to sell from the range of Rs1500 to Rs7000 depends on their furnishing and model.
Another shopkeeper, Wahidullah said all such items manufactured in Japan as well as China to reach Karachi via Afghanistan. “The brokers who doing business of scrap on large scale are also behind this business to procured such items in bulk from Japan and China and brought in Karachi”, he said.
He also mentioned that the chain of such businessmen have also an extensive network of brokers spread all over the Pakistan. “We have not to visit Chaman or any other place to purchase such lot of scrap items as the brokers after getting confirmation from the shopkeepers, he was the responsible to brought such things on the door-step of our shops”, he said.
Interestingly, some of the shopkeepers in this market of secondhand items, also have a huge variety of digital and manual cameras in good condition and the range is much cheaper then the new ones.
Sharjeel, a visiting buyer of market told that he was used to visit this place for the last two years to get know how of new arrivals. “The rate of secondhand items especially imported shoes are economical for middle-class people and now the huge variety of musical instruments will attract the local youngsters to quench their thirst of music to acquire guitars and other instruments on cheap rates”, he said.
-Published in Daily Times | June 17, 2007

Sindh Archives & Information Dept

Sindh Archives acquires 72 historic volumes of Shamsul Hassan

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

SINDH Archives has received all 72 volumes of Syed Shamsul Hasan’s historic collection from the National Documentation Center (NDC), Islamabad while documents regarding the Sindh Governor’s Report between the period of 1937 to 1947 has also begun in consignments.
The volumes were donated to the NDC by Zahid Shamsul Hassan, the younger son of Syed Shamsul Hassan, and comprise original papers mostly from 1940 to 1947 about Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the All-India Muslim League.
Director Sindh Archives Iqbal Nafees Khan told Daily Times on Thursday that the documents were handed over through an arrangement between Sindh Archives and the NDC on exchange of archival material, and the first consignment of 18 out of the 72 volumes was received in February.
Khan said that through the agreement, Sindh Archives would also receive documents written between 1937 and 1947 about the Sindh Governor’s Report from the British India Office Library after the Cabinet Division, Islamabad, signed an accord with the British Government. “There are hundreds of files regarding the report as the British Government has agreed to handover the attested microfilms of these files to Sindh Archives.”
Responding to a question, he said that they had also collected 4,500 files from the old commissioner’s house to be recorded with the Sindh Archives while negotiations to bring historical files from Hyderabad to be preserved under one roof were underway.
He said that Sindh Archives was the main repository and preserved the oldest government records dating back to 1815. He recalled that a record room was established in 1851 in the office of the commissioner of Sindh, which was the prime government office at the time, and these records were moved to this repository after Sindh Archives was established in 1976. “Besides records of the commissioner office, thousands of court files, political files, rare books, manuscripts and other rare material were moved.”
Sindh Archives contains a large collection of rare and historic documents and is open to public. There are 34,465 documents of the commissioner Karachi files from 1818 to 1985, 1,783 files of old maps, 17,530 cases of Sindh High Court from the nineteenth century, 100,000 files of the Shikarpur Session Court from the eighteenth to nineteenth century, 1,340 books from Shikarpur Library, 350 books from DC Jacobabad, 325,000 pages of GM Syed’s documents, 850 registers of district registrar Karachi from 1866 to 1949, two volumes of ‘Who is Who?’ from district Jacobabad and Larkana, 152 files of old records of Sindh received from Punjab and 2,895 files of reports of the ADBP. It also has a huge reference library with 6,431 books as well as 884 rare books, 765 manuscripts and 685 microfilms and archival record from the finance department and city court proceedings.
To keep Sindh Archives running along modern lines, 20 percent of the manuscripts, 15 old files and volumes of other collections have been digitized so far. Software for search and management of books and old record files has also been prepared to computerise the collection.
Iqbal said that the existing Sindh Archives building was fully utilised, which was why they had need to embark upon an extension project that began in 2002 with an estimated cost of Rs 39.9 million. “It had to be complete by June 30, 2006 but now it will finish within the next two to three months.” The new building, he said, will be used as a library.
Talking about how many visitors they received, he said that it seemed as if the trend of reading books and research had declined as only three to four students visited them per week. “Sometimes serious scholars also visit us to benefit from the colossal amount of historic and rare documents found here,” he added.
Iqbal said that they were planning to collect the Sindh Assembly’s debates’ records and so far 150 files had been acquired to maintain records.
Elaborating on the details of the personal libraries’ collection in Sindh Archives, he said that they had a huge collection of the personal libraries of eminent scholars and citizens including Dr NA Baloch (6,421 books), Syed Zafar Hussain Shah (2,177 books), Saeed Siddiqui (3,400 books), Shaikh Ibrahim Khalil (3,451 books), Pir Ali Mohammad Rashidi (6,000 books), Mumtaz Mirza (450 books), Jhamandas Bhatia (6,000 books), Hameed Haroon (319 books), British India Library Books (434 books) and Dr NBG Qazi (356 books).
Answering a question, he said that the E-Archives project had begun with an estimated cost of Rs 15 million to develop and host the Sindh Archives website and present details of the collection online. “The website will be launched within a couple of months and it will help researchers and scholars search books and information material from anywhere around the world,” he said.
-Published in Daily Times | May 04, 2007

Karachi Elevated Expressway-2

Club Road hotels need to give up land for new expressway

By Jamil Khan/Urooj Zia/Uroos Ahmed | KARACHI

THE proposed Karachi Elevated Expressway (KEE) will need to acquire a 17-metre wide section on Club Road for which it will need land from the five-star hotels located there, Daily Times has learnt. Also, 11,000 trees will have to be chopped down to make way for the expressway.
A public hearing for the KEE is scheduled to take place today at 10:00 a.m. at the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) office. The CDGK’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report on the project lists the land that will be needed. It will have to come from the Pearl Continental Hotel (PC), the Karachi Gymkhana, and the (defunct) Metropole Hotel bottleneck in the northern section and Qasr-e-Naz and the State Guest House in the south in addition to Regent Plaza, Sea Breeze Plaza, Navy residential area and the Aisha Bawany School. A small strip of land will need to be acquired from the FTC near the HIR Interchange along the CSD Shop to the bridge over the nalla from the Karsaz area and the Central Store Depot near the Drigh Road Station.
“We’re certainly not giving up any land,” said Regent Plaza administration and HR head, Abdul Sattar. “The matter has been referred to the Pakistan Hotels Association (PHA).”
PC Hotel has also referred the matter to the PHA. “We always welcome projects undertaken by the government for the betterment of the city,” PC marketing and public relations manager, Asif Iqbal, told Daily Times. “We haven’t been approached yet about land acquisition. The matter has, however, been referred to the PHA – the authority that manages the rights of hotels, so it will be liasing with the city government.”
According to the FTC management, the land there belongs to the federal government, and the project is managed by a private firm – the FTC Management Company (Pvt) Ltd (FMCL). The stakeholders include the CSD, [a secret agency], the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, the HBFC, the TDAP, the Pak-Kuwait Investment Corporation, the Pakistan-Libya Holding Company, the Pakistan Automobile Corporation, etc, explained FMCL DBM and Administrator Auditorium, Niaz Ali Mahar. “The [FTC] project belongs to the Federal Government, not the provincial government or the CDGK. We haven’t been officially informed about any land acquisition. If they [the CDGK] need the land outside the FTC boundary wall, they can have it. If they ask for land within the boundary wall, however, our management committee will sit down over it and decide what has to be done.” To say anything right now would be too premature, Mahar implied.
According to the property laws of Pakistan, however, all land belongs to the State, and is leased out for 99 years. “If the CDGK does not already have an interim power to acquire private land, then that can be accomplished by passing legislation via Parliament,” said Irshad Abdul Qadir, a teacher of land law. “This lease can be renewed at the end of the 99-year period, or with a year left in the running. In Pakistan, there is a Sindh Motorway Act which enables the government to negotiate with parties who have the title to the land. The government can then offer to buy the land at the market price, or compensate by providing an alternate location.”
Legal advisor Afzal Khan said that it did not matter what the hotel association wanted. “If they think this is unfair, they can contest it in a court of law. The law of the land, however, says that all land belongs to the state and the state can take over the land with appropriate compensation,” he said. “The right to build for the benefit of the public only is classified under the same category so even if there is a suit filed there are minimum chances of the hotel association getting an order in its favour.”
The KEE project proposed to construct a 24-kilometer long, four-lane expressway which will stretch from Jinnah Bridge (Native Jetty) at Keamari to Quaidabad. There will be six entry and exit points; Quaidabad, Stare Gate, Karsaz, Shahrah-e-Quaideen, Hotel Metropole, and Jinnah Bridge as vehicles using this expressway will be required to pay a toll.
Architects and urban planners have already expressed their reservations for the project. “Shahrah-e-Faisal, which served the city before Partition is not designed for this purpose,” said architect Arif Belgaumi.
The Institute of Architects of Pakistan’s Ejaz Ahed pointed out that the city government’s report does not mention who conducted the EIA survey. “The government said that the KEE will be used as a highway but within its own EIA report it mentioned that at some specific points (Hotel Metropole, Club Road, PIDC Bridge) the speed will be reduced between 50 to 80 km which is not the standard for a highway,” he said.
Ahed said that if the city government claimed this was a strategic road to connect two major ports and the airport, then there should be an alternative as freight traffic should not be pass through the heart of the city. This should happen on the Northern Bypass. Realistically, there is very limited traffic between the airport and the two ports.
The IAP experts added that the KEE also does not serve any of the industrial estates – There is no direct access to the KEE from Korangi, SITE and North Karachi except through residential neighbourhoods.
The proposed six entry and exit points will merge on Shahrah-e-Faisal which will worsen the traffic situation. “There is no entry or exit at Jinnah Airport as airport traffic will exit at Star Gate intersection and merge with Shahrah-e-Faisal traffic till the airport intersection. Similarly, there is no interchange at either Rashid Minhas Road or the Finance Trade Center (Christian Cemetery). Residents of Gulshan-e-Iqbal and DHA would have to exit earlier and merge with Shahrah-e-Faisal traffic. The design is compromised by the physical limitations of the Shahrah-e-Faisal corridor and it will serve to make a bad situation much worse,” they added.
Every town’s center should be developed as a business district so there will be no need to visit Saddar area for anything. “Earlier the city center was Saddar but now Hassan Square has become the center of city as the city spread over 3,600 square kilometers,” one of the urban planners suggested.
The KEE will effectively place a roof over the existing roadway, substantially cutting off sunlight and air. The increased traffic load on the Shahrah-e-Faisal corridor and the construction of the KEE will greatly increase pollution which will be trapped by the tall buildings.
The KEE will obscure the facades of every building that it will cross and depreciate real estate values.
Furthermore, there are also doubts on KEE’s financial status. The price tag has grown from the initial $225 million to $350 million (Rs 21 billion). The developer is expected to recover its investment by collecting tolls from all vehicles over the first 20 years of its life. This means that the KEE operator will need to collect Rs 1.05 billion per year or more than Rs 2.876 million per day. If the average toll per vehicle per trip is set at Rs 20 that would amount to 143,835 cars per day using the KEE. Divided between the six entry/exit points, that amounts to almost 24,000 cars per exit per day or one car every 3.6 seconds. It would seem unlikely that the CDGK’s financial claims about this project will be realized, they added.
The IAP experts suggested an on-grade highway along the Malir River bed and the development of the under-construction road through the Korangi Industrial Area into an expressway.
“I suggest that the Jinnah Bridge, Mai Kolachi, Khayaban-e-Saadi, Sunset Boulevard, Korangi Road corridor to Quaidabad should be developed as an alternative,” said urban planner and architect Arif Hassan. “The congestion along this corridor can be overcome easily by elevating the expressway between Submarine Chowrangi and South Circular Avenue and building flyovers wherever necessary to make the corridor signal-free.”
-Published in Daily Times | April 02, 2007

Libraries in Karachi

Only sixty-two libraries for 14 towns

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

THE 178 union councils (UCs) in all 18 towns that fall under the jurisdiction of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) have only 62 libraries to cater to the needs of around 15 million people. Moreover, this distribution is not very even either, and four towns have no libraries whatsoever.
This is despite the fact that the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 2001 requires that all UCs establish and maintain libraries in their respective jurisdictions. In the six years that the SLGO 2001 has been in force, however, no new libraries have been set up.
Ironically, Lyari and Landhi towns, generally known as backward areas with a mess of civic problems, actually have a total of 30 libraries between them. Moreover, a recent survey showed that the existing libraries in the city were not only depriving of proper sitting arrangements, but at some of these libraries, officials did not cooperate with readers.
Bin Qasim Town, Gadap Town and Keamari Town have zero libraries, and the town administration has not taken any measures to set any up either. SITE Town had one library (the Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Library) which was situation right beside the town office. This library, however, was burned down by a mob during an attack on the town office on August 28 last year. The town administration then moved its office to another location, but they apparently forgot to set up the library again.
The Kutubkhana Aam Baldia Library, situated in Frere Market, is one of the oldest in Saddar Town. It has been closed for the past three months for renovations which are moving at snail’s pace. “The renovation began in January and was supposed to be completed within two months,” the Saddar Town deputy town officer (DTO), Farhat Jahan, told Daily Times. “Due to the slow pace of the work, however, the closure has been extended.” Jahan said that the town administration had instructed the contractor to finish up the work as soon as possible, and the library will be reopened within a couple of weeks.
The Dr Saleemuzzaman Siddiqi Library in Society area, PECHS, has been occupied by the Pakistan Rangers since 1992. Jamshed Town DTO, Naeem Ahmed, said that the town nazim had asked higher-ups repeatedly to have the building vacated. Nothing had been done so far, however. Ahmed also said that a new library had been set up in the town, and will be inaugurated soon. In Lyari Town, the Lyari Textbook Library (located behind the town office) is one of the oldest and most major libraries in the area, and is visited by hundreds of people daily. “We have 18 libraries in 11 UCs,” Lyari Town Nazim, Malik Fayyaz, told Daily Times. Moreover, he said, the town administration also extends financial assistance to the libraries that have been established in the area by social organizations.
“Almost all town administrations, as well as the city government, are being spending billions of rupees on development projects but are no attention is being paid towards creating a book culture in the city,” Haris Ali, a student of M.A. from Gulshan-e-Iqbal, said. He further said that authorities concerned should establish new modern libraries in their respective jurisdictions and should take this very seriously.
-Published in Daily Times-Karachi | April 06, 2007

Karachi Zoological Garden-1

Lions and tigers. No elephants? Oh, My!
* Ever since Anarkali died, the Karachi Zoo has been unable to acquire her replacement as no international airlines that transport live animals make it to Pakistan any more

By Jamil Khan/Maliha Rehman | KARACHI

KARACHI: The Karachi zoo has been unable to replace the widely loved elephant Anarkali who died in July last year at the age of 65. One of the main reasons is that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) banned the transport of live animals and the two major airlines capable of undertaking the task stopped flying to Pakistan, said Karachi Zoo District Officer Mansoor Qazi.
The transportation of animals became difficult enough after 9/11, he said. KLM and Lufthansa were the only airlines with the capacity to transport live animals around the world as they have pressurized cabins and oxygen arrangements for them. “Now we are exchanging animals with different zoos in Pakistan to meet our needs,” he said.
There are only two elephants in zoos in the country: one is in Islamabad and the other at the Lahore Zoo came about two decades ago. It is unlikely that these zoos will be able to give up their single elephants in an exchange but the Karachi Zoo has yet to approach them.
The city government had issued a tender notice in 2004-05 to procure an elephant before Anarkali’s death who had grown quite old by then. But due to the ban on the transportation of live animals, however, no bids were received, Qazi said.
The Karachi Zoo, spread over 33 acres in the heart of the city, houses over 1,000 animals (including 500 species of birds, and 500 species of mammals and reptiles), and attracts over 3.5 million people every year from all over the country.
The zoo also works for the conservation of endangered indigenous species by protecting them and providing them with a natural habitat. “As more and more animals are threatened, zoos are no longer just places where animals are exhibited,” he said. “They are, more importantly, conservatories for endangered specis.”
Highly threatened local species at the Karachi Zoo include the Sindh Ibex, Indus Dolphin, Black Buck, Hag Deer, Hyena, Otter, Pythons, and marine tortoises. The spur-thighed tortoise is an example of a globally endangered animal that can be found at the zoo. Some of these animals are in pairs. “We’re trying to obtain highly threatened species from the Sindh Wildlife Department to complete the pairs so that they can start breeding in captivity,” he said. “We want to breed them, prepare a viable population of them, try to remove the factors that initially resulted in their endangerment and then once again release them back into their natural habitat. This is why we also try to minimize the animals’ interaction with human trainers and keepers. If we allow human printing to take effect on the animals, the animals will have greater difficulty in adjusting back into their natural habitat.”
Every year, the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) and WWF (World Wildlife Fund) assess the level of endangerment of local animal species. The zoo’s conservation activities are based on these surveys. Animal exchange programs are organized for the breeding of animals. “If we allow animals of the same family, living in the same zoo, to breed together, infertility and other diseases are usually transferred to the third generation offspring,” elaborates Qazi. “For this purpose, we usually exchange animals with zoos in Pakistan. For instance, we recently carried out some exchanges with the Lahore Zoo and the Bahawalpur Zoo.”
Continuing its role as a conservatory, the Karachi zoo organizes programmes for students on the primary, secondary, college and university levels. Regular programmes are also held to improve staff skills. The zoo’s veterinary hospital is well equipped with an operation theatre, food supplements, vaccines, tranquilizers and guns. Regular checkups are carried out for the quality and quantity of the food given to animals.
Despite their best efforts, however, the zoo’s management is restricted by limited funds. “Every zoo in the world functions with the aid of its country’s citizens. We need more people to be interested enough to donate and adopt animals,” Qazi said. “If they find this difficult to do, they can always volunteer to help monetarily or help out in the construction of an enclosure or in the painting of an animal cage. We can only achieve so much with our given resources.”
Limited funds aside, the zoo administration has recently completed a new portion in the Mughal Garden. Thirty-five species of roses have been planted. Moreover, cages for flamingoes and doves have also been completed.
Visitors interviewed by Daily Times expressed satisfaction with the sanitary arrangements at the zoo. “But the government should do something to obtain an elephant. Children miss the joy rides,” they said. Shakeel, a college student also suggested that the visiting hours at the Mughal Garden should be prolonged. The garden currently stays open only for two hours.
-Published in Daily Times | March 19, 2007

Karachi Elevated Expressway-1

Citizens and experts reject Karachi Elevated Expressway

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

SPEAKERS at a public hearing on the proposed Karachi Elevated Expressway (KEE) from Shahrah-e-Faisal to MT Khan Road Tuesday rejected the idea of putting the 24-kilometer long expressway in the heart of the city.
The hearing was held at the office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Korangi to discuss the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
Shahid Lutfi, a member of the consultant firm, presented a detailed briefing on the project to highlight its purpose and objectives, while another member Lim Kim Oum highlighted technical details.
Arif Hassan, renowned architect and chairman of the Urban Resource Center, said that the concept of building the KEE in the middle of the city was flawed and should not be implemented at any cost. “A number of developed countries are considering demolishing expressways in their cities to get rid of the environment-related complications that expressways create, but now the government of Karachi has adopted such nonsensical ideas,” he said. He termed the EIA a rubber stamp that was being used by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) to implement its own wishes. “The recently compiled EIA does not mention any other important arteries and the consultants have failed to provide any valid justification for constructing the KEE,” he stated. Hassan suggested that the government consider the other route from Mai Kolachi, passing through Khayaban-e-Saadi, Sunset Boulevard and Korangi Road, to Quaidabad in order to provide easy access to heavy traffic between the two ports.
In response to Hassan’s allegation about the EIA, EPA Director General Abdul Malik Ghauri said that the EIA report had been made after considering all aspects. “The report thoroughly discusses alternatives. There should be no opposition for the sake of opposition,” he said. Ghauri informed the audience present at the hearing that complaints from the Karachi Gymkhana, Shehri, Institute of Architects Pakistan (IAP), consultant engineers, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), managements of PC and Sheraton hotels, Pakistan Hotels Association (PHA) and Ardeshir Cowasjee had been forwarded to the city government for thorough consideration.
Roland D’Souza of the NGO Shehri, challenged the authority of the EPA to conduct the EIA. “If we utilised this extremely important thoroughfare properly, traffic-related problems in the area could be resolved up to more than five times,” he said. According to D’Souza, the government should consider training drivers and imposing the authority of law so that drivers obeyed traffic rules for which he cited London as an example where there were no traffic jams despite two-lane roads. He said that the 262-page EIA report did not mention any alternative route during the construction of the KEE and it lacked any emergency shoulder. “The consultant firm’s team includes only one traffic engineer, which shows the negligence towards resolving the problem,” he said, adding that the IJM Corporation Berhad, a Malaysian firm, had been hired to construct the KEE without any tender, which was also questionable. “The CDGK and EIA officials should visit the poor countries of North America and review their tactics of solving traffic problems,” he suggested.
Arif Belgaumi, a member of the IAP, said that the project was devoid of any practical or technical justification. “The EIA report is nominally composed on the format required by the “Sectoral Guidelines for Environmental Reports – Major Roads” but the project itself is not designed with this document in mind. As such, the EIA report is largely an attempt to justify the need for the project,” he pointed out. Belgaumi said that they had submitted a report to the EPA for consideration.
Ghazal Rubab, an environmentalist, said that the city’s real problem was pollution and the KEE would just enhance it. “The dispersion level of air pollution would be blocked and they will need to shift around 1,100 manholes as well as underground utility services from the site,” she said.
Hamid Maker of the Helpline Trust said that the presentation by the consultant firm was unsatisfactory. He asked the city government to let Karachi’s citizens know that what the cost of the project would be and how long it would take to be constructed.
Mohammad Muneer Hassan, former vice chancellor of the NED University said that after completion of the KEE, traffic jams would continue at points of entry and exit, as at both the ends, there was no parking space. He emphasised that the Mass Transit System should be restarted to address to the city’s traffic problems. “The elevated train route would need less space besides costing less,” he said. Dr Nauman Ahmed, an architect from the NED University, underlined the need for adopting a disaster management plan for Karachi as the entire city was on seismic zone II and III. “They should bring 2,000 to 3,000 CNG buses in the city to resolve transport problem rather than constructing this expressway,” he said.
Muzaffar, a representative of the PHA, said that the project was directly targeting hotels in the city and that would further result in degradation of the land’s value as well as their business for the next three years (the construction period). Junaid Ashraf of the PC Hotel said that all five-star hotels, not only in Karachi but all over the country, were playing a vital role in Pakistan’s tourism industry. “The construction of the KEE will hinder light and air of four to six stories as well as blocking the façade of the buildings and that would cause a lot of damage to our business,” he said. “We can see that the area underneath bridges and flyovers is occupied by heroin addicts and converted into garbage dumps,” he pointed out.
“The city that cannot even pick up rubbish, provide quality education, proper healthcare facilities and other civic amenities to its citizens, is constructing such costly projects to become a developed city?” questioned Durriya Qazi of the University of Karachi.
An expert of the consultant firm Waqar Hussain said that the structure of the KEE will correspond to a magnitude of seven on the Richter Scale. “Training drivers will take 20 to 25 years while the expressway will be complete in three years,” he said. Speaking about the hotels’ issues, he said that only two to three stories of the hotels on Club Road will be affected but after installation of sound barriers, there will be no problem.
-Published in Daily Times | April 04, 2007