Provincial Minister for Industry and Commerce Mian Aslam Iqbal chaired a meeting on Monday to review the progress on reforms, digitalization and Punjab Green Development Programme of the Environment Protection Department, here at the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT).
It was agreed upon during the meeting that technical assistance would be sought from the World Bank for institutional reforms, digitalization and portal upgradation. A World Bank team, led by World Bank Consultant Irfan Elahi, also attended the meeting.
The minister told the meeting that countries that had eliminated unnecessary regulations made rapid progress. The Punjab government had taken effective measures for ‘Ease of doing business’. He said that all the departments should work in a coordinated manner for issuance of an NOC (No objection certificate) for the new projects. Digitalization should be promoted in the Department of Environmental Protection to facilitate the process of environmental approval.
Secretary Environmental Protection Syed Mubashir Hussain informed the meeting that the draft amendments to the old laws regarding environment had been prepared and sent to the Law Department. The process of approving the initial environmental examination (IEE) and the environmental impact assessment (EIA) cases had been simplified to facilitate business.
PBIT Chairman Fazil Asif Jah, officials of Environment Department attended the meeting. Secretary Industries and Commerce Dr. Wasif Khurshid attended the meeting through video-link.
