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Move to protect environment

A source at the civic body told Khaleej Times, that the municipality has also embarked on implementing a comprehensive control plan covering most of the industries in the emirate that involve hazardous chemical materials carrying adverse impact on the environment.

"The plan would chalk out a set of standards aimed at protecting the environment. Factories engaged in any industry will adhere to these conditions including technical procedures for reducing the effect of dangerous materials. This database will help the municipality to monitor the industries in the emirate and help implementing the recommendations of the Johannesburg environmental summit to reduce the impacts of hazardous chemical materials," the source said.

The plan was launched along with an awareness campaign which was aimed at protecting the environment of the coastal areas in the emirate. The campaign was organised in conjunction with several lectures and workshops involving various childhood centres, school students including kindergartens grades, sport clubs, social and cultural associations, and women societies in Sharjah.

"These lectures were organised in collaboration with some international environment societies. Many issues pertaining to environment protection were discussed. Participants also had an opportunity to exchange expertise and benefit from the municipality's achievements which were showcased during the workshops," he said.

Highlighting the municipal efforts to protect the coasts of the emirate, he said that the sources of pollutions are under regular surveillance in coordination with the coast guards, Sharjah Police, and the Environment and Protection Area Authority. "The municipality has compressive environment plans to implement in the near future. Providing professional human resources in the field of environment and utilising high calibrated technologies to monitor accurately the hazardous chemical pollutants as well as other microscopic bacteria, are among the current municipal efforts to counter coastal pollution," the source observed.

"Surveys are being conducted by the municipality on regular basis to classify the solid, liquid, and gas pollutants, especially at factories, carages, among other areas in the emirate. Experts are supervising these surveys in collaboration with technicians who comprise a team of qualified cadres," he noted.

With the increasing number of factories in the emirate, the civic body issued several regulations and laws relevant to environment protection. "The orders, aimed at attracting the attention of public, specifie the kind of environment violations and the legal penalty imposed on violators," the source said.

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