SEPA introduces digitalisation, SIEMMI system

The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) displayed its digitalisation drive and the Sindh Integrated Environmental Monitoring and Management Information System at a three-day technology exhibition at Karachi's Expo Centre, Business Recorder reported. The programme aims to modernise how the province handles environmental oversight, monitoring and citizen services through digital tools. Environment Secretary Faisal Ahmed Uqaili said the move is designed to speed up approvals, NOCs, industrial registration, inspections, complaints and record keeping.

Under the integrated platform, applicants will be able to file and renew environmental licences, process NOCs and register industrial units online, while compliance monitoring, complaint tracking and inspection management will sit in the same system. The system will also map industrial units using GIS, display environmental data in real time and give staff quick access to digitised files and past records. Uqaili added that an AI-powered chatbot offering guidance in English, Urdu and Roman Urdu is being introduced, and he said the system would cut paperwork and repeat trips to government offices.

Applicants will receive timely status updates, and every complaint can be followed from registration through to resolution. He also said the digitalisation would strengthen oversight by government institutions, bring in automated workflows and create a central environmental database. According to him, the government wants technology to help build a modern environmental system that supports a healthy, clean and green province.