KEY POINTS
- Telecom towers predated environmental laws, complicating regulatory enforcement.
- Ex-EPA chief insists fines were never formally waived.
- Council granted approval for NOC guidelines within its legal mandate.
- Conditional NOCs required compliance or risked cancellation.
- Thousands of NOCs have already been issued across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
- Court precedents could protect towers built before regulation.
- EPA bypassed mandatory consultation with Finance and Law authorities.
- Billions in potential revenue reportedly lost to the province.
- Saga continues as more applications await processing.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: What could have filled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s cash-strapped coffers turned out to be a corporate windfall instead. By sidestepping environmental laws, the provincial government handed telecom companies a free pass—fuelling allegations of mismanagement, favouritism, and billions in lost revenue.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government paved the way for mobile companies to bypass hefty fines mandated under the provincial environmental laws.
By law, every cellular phone tower—known as a Base Transceiver Station (BTS)—requires an Environmental Approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for both construction and operation. Yet, more than 10,000 towers were installed without any such approvals.
Legal loopholes emerge
Instead of enforcing penalties under Section 18 of the Environmental Protection Act, 2014—which envisages fines ranging from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 70 million per site—the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Council (KPEPC) headed by the Chief Minister and comprising 27 members including 10 non-official representatives, approved a policy to issue NOCs without penalising telecom companies for operating without EPA approvals.
Sources estimate that nearly 15,000 towers have been installed across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Although the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Act was passed in 2014, BTS towers were not brought under its ambit until the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Assessment Rules were notified in September 2021.
Under these rules, projects were categorised as ‘high’ (requiring Environmental Impact Assessment), ‘medium’ (requiring Initial Environmental Examination), and ‘low’ (requiring General Environmental Approval). Mobile towers were placed in the GEA category, which required prior approval for both construction and operation.
Push for financial penalties
According to the source, the then Director General (DG) of EPA, Mr. Anwar Khan, insisted on fines despite pressure. However, in January 2024, during the caretaker government, Samiullah Wazir was appointed Director General of EPA while Nazar Hussain Shah was serving as Secretary Forests.
On January 30, 2024, the Environmental Assessment Advisory Committee (EAAC) of the EPA convened a meeting regarding BTS Towers Environmental Approvals. The Committee members unanimously agreed that NOCs could not be issued without fines, as the law did not allow financial exemptions.
This unanimous view aligned squarely with the legal requirements, as Section 18(1) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Act, 2014 reads, “Whoever contravenes or fails to comply with the provisions of sections 11, 12, 13, 14, and 17 or any order passed issued thereunder, shall be punishable with a minimum fine of fifty thousand rupees which may extend to seventy million rupees…”
Policy shift approved
After the change of government, Shahid Zaman was posted as Secretary Forests in May 2024. In August, the EPA prepared a summary for the council, recommending that the towers were installed before the enactment of the law be exempted on the ground that “the towers were already installed before the law.”
Although this proposal was initially deferred, the EPA Council approved the BTS guidelines in February 2025 that allowed issuance of NOCs without penal consequences—but only for the construction phase.
The guidelines, nevertheless, made no mention of waiving financial penalties linked to the operational phase. As a result, no decision was taken on operational NOCs, raising questions over whether this omission was an oversight or a deliberate move by the EPA.
Controversial transfers
Meanwhile, controversial transfers within the EPA added fuel to the fire. In October 2024, Deputy Director (Climate Change Project) Afsar Khan was elevated as Director EPA Swat, while Deputy Director (Legal) Mumtaz Ali was given additional charge of Director DI Khan Region—both moves made in violation of EPA service rules.
These decisions also bypassed senior Deputy Directors within the EPA cadre, many of whom had long awaited promotion and were otherwise eligible.
Rapid-fire NOC approvals
In a further twist, the authority to issue NOCs in Peshawar and Abbottabad was withdrawn from regional directors and handed to a director, Muhammad Hanif. Formerly attached as Office on Special Duty (OSD), Mr. Hanif was later given charge as Director at EPA Headquarters in March 2025—coinciding with the issuance of NOCs.
During the next six months following Mr. Hanif’s appointment, the pace of approvals accelerated sharply. By September 10, 2025, a total of 3,825 NOCs had been issued, though most were not uploaded to the EPA’s official website.
While publication of NOCs was not a statutory requirement under the law, it had been made mandatory through an internal directive issued by then EPA Director General Anwar Khan.
Overlooked legal safeguards
The official document available with WE News English reveals that the review committee formed to oversee the process excluded all Deputy Directors, instead comprising selectively chosen officers of lower ranks.
Crucially, Section 12 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Act, 2014 requires site selection approval before project initiation—ensuring towers are not erected in residential areas or near mosques, schools, hospitals, and other sensitive sites.
The law also mandates site inspections and Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping, none of which were conducted prior to issuing NOCs.
Had fines been imposed under Section 18, the provincial government could have generated massive revenue. At Rs. 70 million per site, penalties on 3,825 towers would amount to Rs. 267 billion.
Even at a conservative estimate of Rs. 1 million per site, the revenue would still exceed Rs. 38 billion. Instead, this potential windfall was waived, raising serious questions about who ultimately benefited from the Environmental Protection Council’s decision—and why the companies were favoured over the public exchequer. In short, what could have been a golden goose, and the province missed the boat.
Questions still unanswered
The then Director General of EPA, Samiullah Wazir, tells WE News English that the fines had not been waived; rather, the BTS towers were already in place at a time when no law covered them. He explains that the case for issuing NOCs was referred to the Council, which, acting within its mandate, subsequently approved the guidelines.
Wazir further states that NOCs were issued on a conditional basis, requiring applicants to meet specific criteria; any failure to comply could lead to their cancellation. He further states that he was transferred before he could formally seek guidance from the Law and Finance Departments, though he maintains that, since the law came later, there were court judgments that could potentially shield these towers.
However, questions remain as to why the EPA had not consulted the Finance and Law Departments before the Council gave its approval.
Sources also point out that not only have thousands of NOCs already been issued, but more applications are expected in the future—meaning the last word on this saga is yet to be written.
