CDA chops down fully grown trees for expansion of Highway

Islamabad: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has started chopping down fully grown trees for expansion of Islamabad Highway. Moreover, the excavation work began without having the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
According to CDA sources, over 300 trees, most of them located on both sides of Islamabad Highway from Zero Point to Faizabad, would have to be cut down to add two more lanes to the existing highway. The contractors of the civic body had already started excavation of the greenbelt from Zero Point. The CDA workers are seen chopping down trees in the greenbelt adjacent to the Sector I-8 traffic signal.
The civic body is also yet to receive the EIA report from the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) which is mandatory prior to start of any development project. It may be pointed out here that over 700 fully grown and 4,000 small trees and shrubs were removed for the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project.
A large portion of Kachnar Park, located in the greenbelt between Islamabad Highway and Sector I-8, would also be affected due to expansion of Islamabad Highway. The CDA spokesman Ramzan Sajid, when contacted by ‘The News,’ said that the CDA had already taken the issue with the Pak-EPA. “We will plant four saplings against each tree being cut down in the greenbelts of the Islamabad Highway,” he said.
A large number of trees, located around the Sector I-8 traffic signal, including those of pine, would have to be removed because a flyover has been planned as part of development work there.