ISLAMABAD: Ms. Farzana Altaf Shah, Director General, Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) has stressed that all local industries set up without approval of Environment Management Plans should prepare such plans for approval in order to promote the cause of Green Pakistan. She was addressing the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry. She said that Pak-EPA would provide technical support and cooperation to the local industry in its pursuits for compliance of environmental laws. She said industries should strive for ISO certification that would help them in achieving sustainable growth. A detailed presentation was given to business community on EPA Act 2017.
Ms. Farzana Altaf Shah said that there was not a single water treatment plant in Islamabad and emphasized that industries should install these plants to control the wastage of water. She said industries should also install solid waste management plants to protect the environment from its harmful consequences and produce by-products from it as well. She said the technology up-gradation was important for industry to achieve better growth and compete with Chinese counterparts. She said marble industry was generating lot of waste material and asked ICCI to arrange a meeting with it to sort out the issues. She lauded the efforts of local steel industry for becoming environmental friendly through utilization of technology and stressed that other industries should follow the same approach for clean environment in Islamabad. She said ICCI should play role for materialization of first green industrial zone in Islamabad to make it a role model for the rest of the country.
Speaking at the occasion, Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry appreciated the role of Ms. Farzana Altaf Shah, DG, Pak-EPA for cooperating with local steel industry in improving compliance of environmental laws. He stressed that other industries needed same kind of cooperation from EPA for compliance of environmental laws through a gradual approach. He said controlling pollution was in the interest of industry for its sustainability and assured that ICCI would work with Pak-EPA to make production activities of local industry environment friendly.
Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi, Vice President ICCI appreciated the positive approach of Pak-EPA towards the industry and said that teams would be formed to work with concerned industries for ensuring compliance of environmental laws. Mian Akram Farid, Tariq Sadiq, Usman Khalid and others also spoke at the occasion and urged that time should be given to local industry to bring in new technology for environment friendly manufacturing activities.
