Margalla Hills tunnel: Govt somersaults on project

Chief justice takes suo motu notice; seeks reply from federal govt, CDA.

ISLAMABAD:

The government on Thursday clarified that it was not working on any plan to build a twin capital across the Margalla Hills in a step likely motivated by the public’s reaction, but fell short of issuing a complete denial of media reports regarding the mega project.

“There is no proposal (of a twin city for Islamabad including the construction of the Margalla tunnel) under consideration nor has the government issued any direction to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in this regard,” said Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, while addressing the National Assembly.

Responding to a call-attention notice by opposition members, the minister offered to arrange a meeting of opposition members with the chairman of CDA to reassure them, but opposition members did not take him at his word.

Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said details of the project, including the fact that it would be awarded to Pak Avenue Development Company for $12 billion, have already become public. She highlighted the environmental impact of the project and said the government should reveal in clear terms where it stands on the issue.

PPP’s Dr Nafisa Shah said the issue had also been taken up in the Senate and the government had not issued a denial. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf stalwart Javed Hashmi asked the government to constitute a committee to look into the matter. Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Syed had submitted an adjournment motion in the Senate stating that the project was illegal.

Ahmed admitted that “among several suggestions there was one to link Islamabad with Haripur via a tunnel through the Margallas. But practically there is no such plan.” He justified the idea by saying that “building new roads and tunnels is good for the country.”

SC takes suo motu notice

The clarification, however, did not come soon enough. The same day, Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice of the project and summoned the attorney general, Capital Development Authority chairman and Parliamentary Affairs secretary. The case has been fixed for Friday (today).

CDA distances itself from the controversy

“The CDA will clarify its position on the project,” a source in the civic agency told The Express Tribune on Thursday requesting anonymity.

“The CDA will inform the apex court that the civic agency has nothing to do with the Margalla tunnel project,” the source said.

Margalla Hills Society Chairman Roedad Khan has sought  court’s intervention to stop the project.

The source said that authority would also inform the court that the establishment of an economic and multi-purpose zone near Rawat, which is also part of the ‘New Islamabad’ project, did not fall under the purview of the CDA.

“The authority has never been tasked by the government to work on the tunnel or the economic zone project,” he said.

A top government official said that digging a tunnel through the protected Margalla Hills and establishing an economic zone is part of a mega project aimed at connecting Pakistan with China through motorway.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recently assigned the project to the National Highways Authority  the official claimed.

According to one of the proposals floated by NHA to that effect is to connect the 367-km motorway, (M-2), with the Karakoram Highway. The M-2 connects Punjab’s capital Lahore with Islamabad.

The traffic at the exit of M-2 at Islamabad will pass through Kashmir Highway and Islamabad Highway and exit at Haripur passing through a bypass near Bhara Kahu and a tunnel that
will be linked with Karakoram Highway, the proposal says.

If the plan is approved by the government the CDA would be asked to expand the Kashmir Highway and Islamabad Highway or any other road falling within the administrative precincts of the CDA, he added.

Currently CDA is planning to establish a sub-sector C-16 at the foothills of Margallas as part of Margalla Triangle project near Sangjani.

When contacted, the CDA spokesperson said he was unaware of any such development and thus could not comment over the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2013.