mr42O
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SLAMABAD: Hundreds of trees have fallen prey to the development projects in Islamabad during the last a few years.
Over 700 fully-grown and decades-old trees and around 4,000 small trees and shrubs were cut down during the construction of the metro bus project. And now, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is all set to chop around 300 fully-grown trees for the expansion of the Islamabad Highway from Zero Point to Rawat. A portion of Kachnar Park will also fall victim to the road expansion project.
Ironically, the CDA didn’t take the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) into confidence before launching the highway expansion project.
According to a senior official of Pak-EPA, about two months ago the environment watchdog warned the CDA to get the mandatory environment assessment report if it wanted to expand the highway.
As per section 12 of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997, all departments are bound to get the environment assessment report before launching any mega project.
Pak-EPA says civic agency yet to file environment impact assessment report on the project
On July 8, through a letter Pak-EPA informed the CDA that it had violated section 12 of the Act by not filing the assessment report to the agency prior to the initiation of the project. The environment watchdog also said the CDA did not respond to two warning letters.
In the meantime, Pak-EPA Director General Dr Mohammad Khurshid, who had been raising the matter with the CDA for violating the environment protection law, was transferred to the Establishment Division on Thursday.
“Since today I have been transferred, I don’t want to speak on this issue any more,” Dr Khurshid told Dawn. However, he added, his transfer had nothing to do with the road expansion issue. “It’s a routine matter,” he said.
Lamenting the government department’s ignorance about the environmental laws and issues, Dr Mohammad Irfan, the chairman of the Department of Environment Sciences at the International Islamic University, said the Planning Commission was bound not to approve any project without having an environment assessment report. He said Islamabad was facing a major environment challenge in the shape of excessive carbon dioxide.
“The transport system is a major source of producing carbon dioxide. For controlling carbon dioxide, the CDA should protect trees or go for a mass transport system.” Dr Irfan said if the cutting of trees was necessary the CDA should plant four saplings against one chopped tree. He said the CDA should also initiate economically feasible and environmentally viable projects.
“Instead of applying for the environment assessment report in the middle of the project, the city mangers should seek the same well before the commencement of any project.”
He said environment and development should go hand in hand. “We can’t ignore the fact that development is necessary In Islamabad as its population has been growing drastically.”
When contacted, Ramzan Sajid, a spokesman for the CDA, said the civic agency was in touch with Pak-EPA about the Islamabad Highway expansion project.
“This is wrong that we are constantly violating the environment laws. We always take the environment body into confidence about development projects,” he said and added that the CDA had a comprehensive plan about planting three to four trees against one which would be chopped during the highway expansion.
Meanwhile, sources in Pak-EPA told Dawn that two notices had been served on the CDA for violating the environment protection law. They said the CDA had hired a consultant for preparing the environment impact assessment report but the consultant never contacted Pak-EPA.
The sources said through a letter the CDA had been asked to follow good practices developed during the construction of the Zero Point Interchange and the EIA report prepared by Nespak for the project may be considered as a benchmark.
Under the Rs21 billion project, the CDA will expand the Islamabad Highway from the existing three and four lanes to five lanes. The residents of the twin cities have welcomed the project. “It’s a good initiative of the government as the expansion of the road will drastically reduce the travel time between Zero Point and Rawat,” said Mohammad Ismail, a resident of Sector I/8.
CDA set to chop over 300 trees for highway project - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
