NAVEED BUTT

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reform has expressed serious concern over increasing sea intrusion along the coastal city of Karachi and other areas of Sindh, and recommended the government institutions including the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) to take immediate measures to address this issue.

The committee also expressed displeasure over missing of many targets and indicators of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were adapted in year 2000 by the governments to make global progress regarding poverty, education, health, hunger and the environment by the end of year 2015.

The committee met with Senator Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi in the chair at Parliament House here on Tuesday where the issues related to sea intrusion in the costal areas of Sindh and Balochistan and non-achieving of MDGs were discussed.

While raising the issue of sea intrusion, Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja said that one year has been passed on the issue but the federal government is not taking any measure to tackle it. He said the SUPARCO is delaying it while the issue is very serious.

He said according to a United Nations study, at least 20 major costal cities of the world including Karachi are exposed to sea intrusion. He said that gradual increase in sea level is a major threat to the Sindh coast as the Indus delta is flat having very low gradient and some part of the delta is already below the sea level.

“The Makran Coast is facing severe erosion at a number of places such as Damb, Shadi Kaur, Pishukan and Jiwani, and it needs immediate attention,” he said.

He said following the directives of the federal minister for science and technology, a cell comprising NIO, SUPARCO and Hydrography Department of PN along with other stakeholders has been established at the National Institute of Oceanography for studies on seawater intrusion and land subsidence.

Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja said if the SUPARCO further delays the submission of PC-1; the budget would not be allocated for the next financial year to address the issue.

An official of the Planning Commission told the committee that if the department concerned submits PC-1 for the project to overcome sea intrusion, the commission would approve it and release funds for this purpose.

According to the documents, the submission of the PC-1 is pending as per requirement of the Planning Division, as it needs to be endorsed by the SUPARCO as one of the collaborators. While briefing the committee, an official of the Planning Commission said that Pakistan adopted 16 targets and 41 indicators against which progress towards 8 MDGs has been achieved.

He said Pakistan’s progress on 24 indicators was off-track and it has only achieved four targets.