PM Imran Khan announces 15 national parks

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday announced the establishment of 15 national parks in all the federating units as part of efforts to protect the nature.

Launching the ‘Protected Area Initiative’ here, he said guidelines would be given to the provinces to preserve these national parks, adding that this was a major initiative for the future generations.

He expressed satisfaction that all the provinces were participating in this initiative, which would also provide jobs to the youth. Imran pointed out that global warming and climate change posed a serious threat to Pakistan adding that this was the reason that the government launched 10 billion tree tsunami program to counter this threat.

“Protecting green areas and parks will also help in this endeavour,” he said. Imran directed the provinces to take the threat seriously and undertake requisite steps for protection of green areas.

He said Pakistan had a diverse landscape and had 12 ecological climatic zones. He however regretted that nothing was done in the past seventy years to protect the forest cover. He stressed the need for developing master plans for the cities and making protection of green area basic component of town planning.

Highlighting the potential of eco-tourism in the country, he said, “We are opening areas for tourism.” He however asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to frame by-laws before opening the tourist spots.

“We also need to prepare plans to protect endangered species such as snow leopards with the support of local people. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan performed groundbreaking of four development projects for Islamabad.

The projects include Rawal Dam Chowk Interchange, Construction of PWD underpass and Korang Bridge on the Islamabad Expressway and Phase-1 of development works of I-15 residential project.

The Capital Development Authority will execute these projects. Rawal Dam Chowk Interchange is a traffic management solution project that will be completed by the CDA through its own financial resources in 24 months.

Construction of Korang Bridge and PWD underpass project will also be executed by CDA in 15 and 7 months respectively. The project will be funded through the Public Sector Development Program.

The projects are aimed at de-congesting traffic flow in the ICT area enabling the federal capital residents to commute without any traffic hassle and save travel time besides making the traffic flow smooth on the Islamabad Expressway and link roads to adjoining areas. Prime Minister Imran Khan appreciated the role of CDA in development of housing sector and the steps being taken to ensure better traffic management in Islamabad. He emphasized protection of green areas of the federal capital during the execution of these development projects.