Tourist spots, restaurants pose threat to Margalla Hills National Park

Islamabad : Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) being a potential tourist attraction pulls scores of tourists to hike and venture in the park for recreation.

An official of Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told this agency on Sunday that private developers in the wake of boosting tourism in the national park and provide lively food to the visitors had developed two restaurants in Pir Sohawa which was part of MHNP.

These hotels and restaurants were destroying the environment and putting wildlife at risk, he added.

Director General Pakistan EPA Farzana Altaf Shah had told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change that EPA had opposed the construction of these restaurants in the national park where the CDA issued approval to the construction party despite EPA’s opposition.

However, the Minister of State for Climate Change categorically submitted that this entire restaurant would be made compliant of environmental laws so that their interventions would not further deteriorate the ecology and the national park.