The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) is going to hold a public hearing of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of the multi-storey residential Golf Floras on Tuesday.
The site is Golf Flora-II, Apartments in Garden City Bahria Town, Zone-5, Islamabad.
The hearing will be held on Dec 27, 2022 at the food court on the fourth floor of Amazon Outlet Mall, near DHA II, main GT Road, Islamabad.
This is the link to the Environmental Impact Assessment report on the PEPA website.
The public hearing is being held under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 and review of IEE/EIA Regulations, 2000. The EIA report includes a detailed account of existing environmental conditions, a project description, an analysis of the impacts and proposed mitigation measures to be implemented during the project execution.
It is a mandatory procedure to seek environmental approval and a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the Pak-EPA, which ensures environmental protection and compensation for damages incurred to nature during and after the implementation of a project.
Golf Floras-II is a high-rise residential building project of the Imarat Developers Private Limited to be constructed over 24.62 kanals. The apartment building is ground plus 28 floors, a rooftop along with three basements.
The project is located close to Bahria Golf Course. It will have luxury apartments, including a family club, infinity pool, emergency response facilities and shopping centres.
According to the report, the total covered area, including basements, lifts, stairs, and garbage chutes is 1,060,850.62 square feet (sq. ft.), and the total proposed cover area is 659,701.97 sq. ft. The building has been designed according to Building Control Regulations, 2020 of the Capital Development Authority.
The land use after satellite image analysis and information gathered from locals revealed that the area was barren land covered in shrubs, and used for animal grazing. However, the land has been procured by a private real-estate firm to develop its housing society.
The report underlined that there was sweet groundwater found in the command area, whereas the population of the project would continue to grow which might cause a decline in groundwater availability.