decided to construct the Metro Bus System (MBS) 

Executive Summary

Islamabad is a modern, well planned and maintained city located in the Pothohar Plateau in the northeastern part of the country, within the Islamabad Capital Territory. The city was built during the 1960s to replace Karachi as Pakistan's capital. The increasing trend in population dynamics renders the greater Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area as the third largest conurbation in Pakistan.

 

In addition to increase in population due to urban sprawl, the city also attracts national and international tourists. Since the twin cities are hub of economic, political, and educational activities, significant commuting takes place between the twin cities and adjoining areas.

 

The available public transport is dominated by the private sector, contributing to about 35 per-cent of the share of overall modes of transportation. This share is now declining due to poor service and widespread customer dissatisfaction with the available options.The people travelling by public transport are passing through double agony because despite getting high fares, the transporters do not finish their routes, thus making the commuters pay extra fare for reaching their destinations by changing two vehicles from Saddar to Pak Secretariat. Moreover, during peak hours, vehicles are overloaded.

 

Therefore, the existing public transport system requires a major uplift in level of service and quality. In order to tackle this problem and provide improved quality of public transport, Government of Punjab, Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) decided to construct the Metro Bus System (MBS) in Islamabad.

 

The MBS Islamabad consists of 13.6 km that starts from IJP Road to Jinnah Avenue through 9^th Avenue Road. The proposed MBS in Islamabad is at grade crossing two major intersections through provision of underpasses (Kashmir Highway and Junction between 9th Avenue & Jinnah Avenue).

 

To comply with Pakistan’s Environmental Regulations as per Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA) 1997, Government of Punjab has entrusted National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) with the assignment of carrying out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Study of the construction of MBS from IJP Road to Secretariat, Islamabad.

 

Environmental Impact Assessment Study has been conducted for construction of MBS from IJP Road to Secretariat as a mandatory requirement of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA), 1997. Section 12 (1) of the PEPA-1997 which states that:

 

“No proponent of a Project shall commence construction or operation unless he has filed with the Federal Agency an initial environmental examination or, where the Project is likely to cause an adverse environmental effect, an environmental impact assessment, and has obtained from the Federal Agency approval in respect thereof.”

 

The project proponent, RDA has entrusted NESPAK to fulfill this regulatory requirement. The project is out come of the increased traffic volumes due to population growth and urban sprawl.

 

The overall objective of the proposed project is to augment public transport services in the city with provision of safe, efficient and comfortable traffic facility to the commuters of the area. The proposed project will greatly benefit the commuters by providing better quality and environmental friendly public transport, reducing number of vehicles on the road, thus reducing fuel consumption and consequent air emissions from vehicular exhaust. Implementation of the project is envisaged having the following specific objectives:

 

§  To facilitate interacity movement of passengers at low cost, high capacity and dedicated lanes to avoid disruption on the existing flow of traffic;

§  To provide the public with environmental friendly public transport;

§  To provide transport safety, transport productivity, travel reliability, travel choices, and social equity;

§  To reduce the traffic conflicts/accidents due to reduction in number of vehicles on road;

§  To help save the travelling time by reduction in traffic congestion;

§  To reduce the fuel consumption by reducing the demand of private vehicle etc;

§  To reduce the, noise and air pollution resulting from vehicular exhaust; and

§  To provide an opportunity to labourers and skilled/unskilled staff to work in the project area;

 

 

 

 

The scope of the EIA Study includes environmental assessment of the project including collection and securitization of data related to physical, biological and socio-economic environment, assessment of impacts which may be caused by the project activities and mitigation measures for the abatement of potential environmental impacts along with the estimated budgeted cost of mitigation.

 

The study has been conducted in accordance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Government of Pakistan (GOP) Guidelines. The study is based on both primary and secondary data and information. Discussions were held with stakeholders including community representatives and a wide range of road users and roadside dwellers.

 

The methodology adopted to conduct this study was as follows:

·               Meetings and discussions were held among the members of the EIA consulting team, design engineers and proponent. This activity was aimed at achieving a common ground of understanding of various issues of the study.

·               Planning was carried out to assess data requirements and their sources; time schedules and responsibilities for their collection; logistics and facilitation needs for the execution of the data acquisition plan.

·               Primary and secondary data were gathered through observations during the field survey, environmental monitoring in the field, concerned departments and published materials to establish baseline profile for physical, biological and socio-economic environmental conditions.

·               The impacts of the project on the physical, biological and socio-economic environment prevalent in the project area were visualized at the design, construction and operational phases.

·               The adequate mitigation measures and implementation mechanisms were proposed so that the proponent could incorporate them beforehand in the design phase.

 

The Government of Pakistan (GOP) has promulgated laws/acts, regulations and standards for the protection, conservation, rehabilitation and improvement of the environment. PEPA-1997 is the apex law for mandatory EIA before project construction. The Act was promulgated on December 06, 1997 by repealing the Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance of 1983. Other relevant laws have also been discussed briefly in the report. In addition, National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQs) are provided for the industrial/vehicular gaseous emissions and noise and for municipal/industrial wastewater discharges.

 

Project Components include at grade section of MBS which falls in Islamabad. The auxiliary facilities also involve stations, escalators, plat form screen doors, turnstiles for automatic fare collection, two underpasses at Kashmir Highway and Junction between 9th Avenue & Jinnah Avenue and extension of existing underpass at 9th Avenue and other amenities for passenger convenience.

 

The Islamabad Corridor of MBS starts from end of Faizabad interchange at IJP Road at this point. It runs in between at-grade and takes right turn on 9th Avenue. Along Ninth Avenue (Islamabad) crosses Kashmir Highway and turns to Jinnah Avenue and ends at Civil Secretariat. The total length of MBS Islamabad will be 13.6 km. The MBS Rawalpindi will be constructed in five packages:

        

Package I:    Faizabad to Peshawar Modr               4.4 km

Package II:   Interchange Peshawar Modr              1.1 km           

Package III:  Peshawar Modr to Centaurus             2.9 km

Package IV: Centaurus to Shaheed-e-Millat           3.1 km

Package V: Shaheed-e-Millat to Secretariat          2.156 km

 

Number of stations provided in this stretch is fourteen (14).

 

Three Alternatives were analysed with respect to environmental impacts which are as follows:

 

Alternative-I:	No Project Option
Alternative-II:	At Grade MBS from IJP Road to Secretariat
Alternative-III:	Elevated MBS from IJP Road to Secretariat

 

In the light of above discussion, alternative II is the most feasible option as it provides safe, efficient and reliable mode of public transport with low cost. The material required for construction of the structure will be lesser and thus overall project cost will be lesser than alternative III.

 

The existing environment in and around the project area has been studied with respect to the physical, biological and socio-economic conditions.

 

The baseline conditions were studied with respect to physical, biological and socio-economic environment. The physical environment includes topography, geology and soils, climate, hydrology and drainage, land use, surface water and quality, groundwater and quality, ambient air quality, noise levels, floods and seismicity.

The climate of the project area is hot in summer and moderate in winter. The coldest month is December and the hottest is June. Flood discharges have also been reported at various locations along the Nullah Lai. According to the Seismic Zoning Map (prepared by Pakistan Meteorological Department), the proposed Project falls in Zone 2 B (Moderate), where 2B represents peak horizontal ground acceleration from 0.16 to 0.24 g.

The biological environment of the Project Area includes flora and fauna. The floral species found in the Project Area include trees, shrubs and herbs, grasses and forests. The faunal species noticed/reported in the Project Area include mammals (dogs, cats etc.), mongoose, squirrel, amphibians (frog, toad, turtle etc.), reptiles (small and medium sized lizards, snakes etc.), house sparrows, house crow, etc. However, no endangered species, agriculture and horticulture are found in the Project Area.

The aspects covered under socio-economic environment of the Project Area include population and communities, population size, growth and distribution, races and tribes, mother tongue, occupations, health care facilities, educational facilities, physical and cultural heritage (shrine, mosque, graveyard), recreational sites, respondent’s age group, marital status, family system etc.

 

The proposed project will have both positive and negative impacts during the construction and operational phases, for which proper mitigation measures are necessary. During the field survey, significant efforts were made to identify the main social, cultural and environmental issues related to the project. Various government departments and agencies were also contacted for obtaining salient information along with area resident/ stakeholders. Most of the perceived impacts are during construction phase. Following is the list of main concerns identified in the study:

 

§  Disturbance to the public movement during construction;

§  Excavation and Vibrations due to construction machinery may affect the structure stability of the buildings during construction.

§  Disturbance in the daily routine activities of locals and the people visiting educational and health facilities, like; Hamdard University, Virtual University, the University of Lahore, Allama Iqbal Open University,  Kulsoom International Hospital, Polyclinic etc. during construction;

§  Air and noise pollution due to the operating of construction machinery during construction phase of the project;

§  Solid waste generation during construction and operation;

§  Generation of municipal waste water and wastewater from construction activities;

§  Accidental leaks/spills of hazardous chemicals from construction activities and machinery;

§  Health and safety issues of the workers;

§  Contamination of water body by construction activities;

§  Removal of vegetation;

§  Visual impact in cause of fenced dedicated MBS lane;

§  trash pooling resulting from improper drainage system and consequent Inconvenience to the public;

§  Land Acquisition and Resettlement; and

§  Relocation of public utilities.

 

On the positive side, the proposed project is expected to improve public transport facility with dedicated lanes reducing accidents, consumption of time and fuel. The project will generate new opportunities for skilled/unskilled manpower. Recommended mitigation measures to contain potential adverse impacts are described in the Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan. EMMP shall be strictly enforced during the implementation of the proposed Project. The total environmental cost has been worked out to be 178.373674 Million Rupees. This includes Rs.  429,000/- monitoring cost, Rs. 100,000/- environmental training cost and Rs.  177,844,674/- plantation cost.