NA panel raises questions on hotels in Margalla Hills

Asks CDA to present lease documents

ISLAMABAD: The operation of commercial restaurants within the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) was raised in a parliamentary panel on Thursday, with the civic body of the federal capital asked to present lease documents for these establishments at the next meeting.

The National Assembly’s (NA) Standing Committee on Climate Change met with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPA Munaza Hassan in the chair. It reviewed the matter of lease and rents from restaurants located in the MHNP and the issue of environmental pollution and water contamination due to poor sewerage systems in the park.

The committee observed why was permission granted for establishing hotels in the protected national park in the first place.

The meeting further observed that all such establishments were destroying the park’s surroundings. If the practice is not stopped, all the natural beauty of the park will soon fade. The committee also recommended that practical steps should be initiated for transforming all two-stroke engine powered vehicles — which have been phased out — should be converted into electrical ones to minimise pollution.

Discussing the matter, the committee expressed its strong displeasure at the absence of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman and directed him to attend the next meeting. The committee further directed the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) and CDA to submit lease agreements and the rent collection documents for the Monal restaurant and other hotels situated in the park.

The committee deferred the Pakistan Environmental Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Global Change Impact Studies Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2019. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2020.