The Sindh High Court (SHC) has recently issued notices to the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and others on a petition against acquisition of land and construction of a biogas plant for the Red Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in the Cattle Colony area.
In their plea, the petitioners had submitted that the government’s attempt to acquire 32 acres of land in Cattle Colony to set up a biogas plant was detrimental to health of the residents of the area. They submitted that Cattle Colony met the meat and milk requirement of the city and the land earmarked for the biogas plant was meant for slaughter houses and milk farming facilities.
They submitted that disruption of commercial activities in Cattle Colony would adversely impact the quantity of meat and milk supplied to the city. They submitted that the biogas plant meant to be housed in a densely populated area shall expose a large number of people to toxic elements. They submitted that the process of producing biogas involved collection of vast amount of biological waste such as animal manure and carcasses for production of biomethane and it also aided production of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide which posed risk to public health.
They added that viability of a biogas plant for running the transport project had not been tested and the absence of real world examples of mass transit projects fueled by biomethane in and of itself underscored the immense financial and infrastructure risk being undertaken by the government. They submitted that the government had failed to assess the financial feasibility of the project especially given the untested nature of the mass transport project fueled exclusively by biogas and it also failed to assess other sustainable alternatives to biogas.
The SHC was requested to declare the allotment of land in Cattle Colony for the purpose of a biogas plant as illegal without considering the health consequences for the residents of Cattle Colony. The petitioners’ counsel sought urgent hearing of the petition submitting that the biogas plant was being established in the area without seeking approval from Sepa.After the preliminary hearing of the application, the high court issued notices to Sepa and others, and called their comments on May 17.
