Mari gets nod for survey aircraft

According to The Express Tribune, the government has granted Mari Energies permission to conduct airborne field detection surveys in several areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, including Waziristan and Balochistan. The company has also received approval to temporarily import aircraft for the survey work at sites in the two provinces. The clearance is a conditional no-objection certificate covering the Wali West, Karak, Block-28, Hanna, Hanna South, Ziarat and Ziarat North blocks.

The approval comes with security conditions that shape how the work can proceed. Mari must keep surveys within mutually agreed areas, arrange its own transport and lodging at no cost, and give at least two weeks' notice before the aircraft and team arrive. Survey data may not leave Pakistan without clearance from the Strategic Plans Division, which will also place two officers on board each sortie. Each sortie must be notified to the SPD team 48 hours in advance, and the aircraft is subject to pre-inspection by that team.

If strategic minerals are present, the SPD holds priority rights, and Mari must give it space and passage should it plan activity there. The conditions also bar unapproved maps, GPS units and other survey gadgetry at the project site, and prohibit photographing vital defence installations. Mari has also been asked to furnish a certificate confirming it has met every condition.