World Bank withdraws from Mauripur road citing light pollution; Sindh govt insists on keeping artificial lights

The World Bank has decided to pull funding from the second phase of 5.9 kilometre Mauripur Road, which is part of the Competitive and Livable City of Karachi (CLICK) project. A total of 520 harsh white LED lights installed at the road have become the bone of contention after it was noted that they were disturbing the hatching season of turtles coming to the marine beach to lay eggs.

The lights in the city of lights are surprisingly proving to be hazardous for the endangered species which visit the city to ensure their sustenance and enhance their population. Journalist Oonib Azam working for The Citizenry.pk has formulated a detailed report about the installation of the white lights as part of the rehabilitation program of the Mauripur road from Machli Chowk to the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP). He not just did the research but also played an instrumental role in convincing this Bretton Woods institution to rethink about their investment in this particular area.

Background of CLICK

CLICK is a development project by the World Bank to improve “urban management, service delivery and the business environment of Karachi.” Four components of the project involve capacity building of Local Councils and granting them performance-based grants, modernizing urban Property Tax administration, improvement in city competitiveness, and building capacity of local government regarding the technical assistance for solid waste management. The total project cost is a hefty 240 million dollars and it spans over 30 districts of Sindh, six divisions, 25 town municipal corporations, and 209 Karachi UCs.

Detrimental artificial lights for the turtles

Sindh Wild Life Department told Oonib that repelled by Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) in the last season, an estimated 250 female turtles turned back to the sea without laying eggs. The same artificial lights disorientate young hatchlings and they get crushed under cars or are eaten up by stray dogs.

“A female turtle travels all the way to Australian beaches and returns to Karachi’s coast, to lay its eggs at the same coordinates where she layed eggs the last time. This shows how sensitive turtles are to their natural environment,” Oonib quotes a report by Dr. Umair bin Zamir.

Mauripur road project

Oonib explained to The Current how his research about the sanctuaries lead to awareness of turtles’ sensitivity to harsh white light. People attending picnics disrupted the whole process with torch lights just for the adventure. Huts in the surrounding areas put up huge flashlights and third and most glaringly, lamppost lights installed on the roadside in the neighbourhood.

Mauripur road project is a sub-project of the World Bank’s CLICK project which costs 840 million rupees. Because it was a Category B project it required Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to submit an Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) to the World Bank. The Citizenry report lays out how the KMC blatantly missed out on the turtle sanctuaries. It also stresses that turtles were a common sight in the area since the project is surrounded by beaches.

It was in sheer contrast with the World Bank’s policy (Environment Management Framework) of explicitly protecting the environment while ensuring a sustainable poverty reduction and development of societies at the same time.

Here, Oonib contacted the World Bank via Abedalrazq F. Khalil, manager of Uraban Development, Resilience and Land Practice for the South Asian region and shared all the intel he gathered in his research. It was revealed in that email exchange that World Bank was told that the road was about 5-8 kilometres away from the turtle hatching site. In a video report by The Citizenry, Oonib and Hunain Ameen discussed how Sanspit beach, Turtle Beach and Hawksbay Beach are in a row some kilometres apart as per Sindh Wildlife department’s maps.

It is important to mention that the 520 street lights are actually installed on a road the road from Machli Chowk to KANUUP Road runs parallel to Hawksbay Beach at a few 100-meter distances.

The Current has gone through the email exchanges between the Bank’s representative and journalist Oonib Azam and it is apparent that the Bretton Wood body was not entirely aware of the possible repercussions of proceeding with the project but after concerns were raised it was concluded that it will not move forward with the second phase.

“Light shielding and use of red lights is being considered by the PIU [Program Implementation Unit] as one of the mitigation measures. After consulting with relevant expert, we would have the CLICK PIU implement them,” Abedalrazq asserted.

As he was asked by the journalist about the operation policy of the World Bank regarding critical habitats being triggered for this project only or for the entire project, the respondent answered, “when CLICK was prepared, impacts on natural habitat were not envisaged and hence the Operational Policy 4.04 was not triggered. If a certain policy is triggered during preparation or implementation, it applies to the entire project.”

Current status of the project

Unsurprisingly, the World Bank has pulled funding for the Mauripur project. As a result, local authorities are being directed to implement mitigation measures proposed by the Sindh Wildlife Marine Turtle Conservation. They have proposed the replacement of bright white lights by red lights. Ironically, the email exchange reveals that the PIU office in Karachi plans to cover the lights with a cellophane which can change the white colour to red. As this solution is not durable, the journalist requested Bank authorities to intervene who then asked authorities to change the lights to amber LEDs rather than covering them with a cellophane shield.

The Current asked Oonib about the current status of the project and he described it to be in a lull. “The current status is that city authorities are not ready to change the lights to amber/red as recommended by the World Bank”.

We reached out to Murtaza Wahab multiple times for his perspective on the issue and also the spokesperson of the KMC, Ali Hassan Sajid, yet there was no response from them. While Murtaza committed to responding to it at first, he later did not.

Sindh Wildlife Authority maintains that the lights installed on the nearby hotels and huts are more hazardous for the marine life especially turtles compared to the streetlights but it cannot be denied that these lights of 120 watts are inflicting perils on these turtles to a great extent as well.

Climate change is hitting home. Humans have been the perpetrators of the suffering of other creatures and it is time we actually employ durable techniques which can prove to be a relief for the ecosystem rather than being a pain in the name of development.