By our correspondent
KARACHI (March 06 2004): Adviser to Chief Minister on Environment and Alternative Energy Faisal Malik has said his ministry has moved a summary to the chief secretary for getting judicial powers to penalise violators of anti-pollution laws.

Talking to newsmen after conclusion of the technical session of the two-day Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-Conference and Exhibition (CNG-ConEx) here on Friday he said his department needed powers to penalise those who violate Pakistan Environment Protection Act (PEPA) of 1997.

The two-day CNG-ConEx is organised by the National Forum for Environment and Health in collaboration with Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), Hydrocarbons Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP), CNG Station Owners Association of Pakistan, Greaves Pakistan and Faber Industries of Italy.

"Presently we are understaffed and lack the necessary legislative powers to implement the PEPA in letter and spirit," he said.

The ministry has moved a summary to the chief secretary and it is hoped that some decisions will be taken in this regard, he said.

We have sent notices to Dadabhoy Cement to take measures for pollution control and some cases are with the court against different companies, Faisal disclosed.

Earlier, during his address as the chief guest he said the ministry was trying to come up with a law that would ensure that CNG should be used as the alternative fuel in all vehicles. "The law can be implemented in a year or two and if this is done then it will be one of the good things that the ministry is trying to do for the province," he said.

He underlined the need to educate CNG as the environment friendly fuel and for this workshops should be held to apprise the people about the advantages of the fuel.

But at the same time emphasis should be given on following the safety measures to avoid any untoward incidents, he said adding that CNG would replace diesel in future and the provincial government was making efforts to promote CNG as the alternative fuel.

Faisal said the World Bank wants that at least three affluent treatment plants should be set up to check pollution and the provincial government has set up an effluent treatment plant at Korangi area that would hopefully be operational by end of March or next month.

This would greatly reduce the pollution level of the city and once the WTO is implemented the industries would have to have the effluent plants, he said.

Giving statistics, he said Pakistan is the third largest consumer of CNG in the world after Italy and Argentina and there are 450 stations that are set up in which 63 are in Karachi. There are 450,000 cars running on CNG in the country and so far over Rs70 billion has been invested in this sector.

Naushab Sarwar, General Manager, Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) observed that no one could compromise on safety standards.

He said CNG has come a long way in Pakistan as 20 years ago, CNG fitted vehicles were termed as bombs fitted on the vehicle but now it is the safest fuel around provided safety measures are taken.

He agreed to the views of the Kaiser Waheed that Pakistan has taken a lead in the transformation of CNG in the country as the alternative fuel and urged that CNG station owners to keep the normal safety procedures in mind in using CNG at their stations.

Attilio Tafuri, area manager (Asia Pacific) Nuovo Pignone who dwelt in detail on ‘Safety Installation of Station and Growth of CNG vehicles’ said Pakistan is well capable of learning quickly from the experience of Italy and the industry has the potential to make people rich through fair tactics.

Andrew Hardcastle, manager International Sales, Comp Air informed the people of the worldwide safety and standards by using CNG products.

Malik Khuda Baksh, Chief Adviser of NFEH and President of CNG Station Owners Association (CNGSOA) suggested that CNG dispensing point shall not be closer than 2.5 meters to the nearest cylinder in the CNG bank and vehicles must not be permitted closer than 2 meters.

Secondly, CNG dispensing point shall not be closer than 3 meters from any source of ignition and closer than 2 meters from any opening to a building.

Malik felt that if the CNG storage facility is adjacent to an existing petrol pump these must be separated by minimum distance of 5 meters.

The News International, Pakistan