IHC moved against cutting of trees for Islamabad Expressway expansion

Islamabad
Following a social media campaign by Islamabad residents against cutting of trees for the expansion of Islamabad Expressway from Zero Point to Rawat, a petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) by three residents of the city.
Bilal Haque, Rafia Qasim and Saima Omer filed a public interest petition with the Islamabad High Court against what they termed illegal Islamabad Expressway expansion in violation of the law — ‘Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997’ and the ‘Capital Development Authority Ordinance 1960’ (CDA Ordinance 1960).
The petition focuses on the recently initiated project of the CDA which is attracting controversy. The project includes expansion of Islamabad Expressway (from Zero Point to Rawat) to five lanes on both sides and building of six new interchanges.
The project will result in cutting of more than 300 fully-grown trees in the process. The petition claims that the project is being executed in contravention to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997, Section 12, which requires that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) be filed and approved by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency.
The Islamabad Expressway project was planned in 2014 and put on the back burner due to the Metro Bus Project. The petition says that despite the delay, no Environmental Impact Assessment report was provided to Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency.
It says that Federal Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan last week also noted this issue and directed the CDA to avoid implementing any project as long as prior EIA is not conducted, but the CDA management overnight sent bulldozers to the designated areas and started cutting 30-year-old trees.