The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) and Defence Housing Authority (DHA) to place on record the complete list of commercial entities which were operational or likely to be operational from Nishan-e-Pakistan to the clock tower in the Sea View area.
The direction came on a petition against the development of a beach project at Sea View without an approved environmental impact assessment (EIA). The petitioners, Arif Belgaumi and other residents of DHA, had submitted in the petition that the CBC planned to commercialise the Sea View beach from Nishan-e-Pakistan to the Village Restaurant. They informed the high court that the cantonment board had started work on the development of a beach project from Nishan-e-Pakistan to DHA Phase V extension that was supposed to be spreading over 20.89 acres, which entailed the development of a one –kilometre-long stretch of the Sea View beach.The petitioners claimed that the respondent planned to build eight restaurants, 15 tuck shops and 40 hawkers and street stalls within the project area.
They alleged that the project was part of the plan to commercialise the Clifton beach, and the cantonment board and DHA had started occupying the beach in parts. They said that the project would certainly restrict the fundamental rights of common citizens to enjoy the beach as the planned facilities were meant for the well-to-do population only.
The petitioners said environmental experts had termed the project a recipe for an ecological disaster as large concrete structure along the coastline had shown to impact sea’s hydrological dynamics causing loss of natural land and increasing the risk for erosion and vulnerability to inundation.
