Tree plantation drive kicks off

CDA Chairman Noorul Amin Mengal along with Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari and Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Director General Farzana Altaf Shah visited Islamabad's posh commercial centre, F-6 Markaz, and launched a tree plantation drive from markets by planting a sapling in the supermarket.

F-6 Markaz Traders Welfare Association President Shahzad Shabbir Abbasi, Secretary General Aqib Abbasi, Khalid Chaudhry, Saifur Rahman Khan, Akhtar Abbasi, Malik Shabbir Awan, Imtiaz Abbasi and others were also present on the occasion.

The CDA chairman took a round of the market along with Chamber President Bakhtawari, EPA DG Farzana and representatives of the traders association and reviewed the ongoing development works.

He issued instructions to the CDA officials to speed up the ongoing works and to advance other works as well. Speaking on the occasion, he said the development work will be reviewed by visiting other markets soon.

He also announced on the occasion that the Zero Point Bridge would be handed over to ICCI for its decoration and beautification. He directed the CDA’s director environment to carry out the plantation drive in the markets in collaboration with ICCI while he would visit the markets.

Speaking on the occasion, ICCI President Bakhtawari said the chamber had earlier planted thousands of saplings in Islamabad in collaboration with CDA and this year too, the ICCI in cooperation with CDA and concerned market associations, would carry out the plantation drive in the markets to make Islamabad greener and promote a healthy environment.

He said along with planting new trees, a strategy should be made for proper maintenance of old trees so that they can be kept safe. He said to determine the age of old trees in Islamabad, tags should be placed on them and special arrangements should be made for their proper maintenance so that they can be preserved for a long time.

He said only 10 to 15 per cent of the saplings survive while the rest are lost, so special attention should be paid to the care of the saplings. He urged the representatives of the market associations to fully cooperate with CDA in the plantation drive to make Islamabad more beautiful.

The EPA DG said there is a need to plant more trees to protect the cities from the harmful effects of climate change and it is commendable that the ICCI is promoting the tree plantation drive in the markets in collaboration with CDA and trade associations, which will make the environment of Islamabad healthier.

The Supermarket Association president assured of full cooperation to make the plantation drive successful.

He stressed that there is a need to replace the old sewage lines in the markets as the old lines are no longer able to bear the load due to the increase in population and often get blocked.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2023.