Urban environment: Canal Heritage Park to be ready by end of year
Bird population to benefit from plantation of native tree species.
LAHORE:
The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) will plant 7,000 indigenous trees and set up benches and railings to establish the Lahore Canal Heritage Park by the end of this year, said PHA Director General Muhammad Mehmood on Saturday.
The Punjab cabinet approved the Lahore Parks Heritage Act 2012 on Thursday under which the green belt along the Canal is to be converted into a park. The idea of setting up an urban park incorporating the green belts came up while the Supreme Court was hearing a challenge to the Punjab government’s plans last year to expand Canal Bank Road.
The PHA director general told The Express Tribune that 7,000 trees of indigenous species would be planted by the end of June and it would “start to look like a proper park” in six months. It will be finished by December, he said.
Unlike the mostly eucalyptus trees along the Canal earlier, the PHA will plant native shady trees such as jambul (jamun), mango, amaltas, mulberry (shatut), elkan and peepal. “Indigenous trees will help revive the local bird species lost as a consequence of development projects across Lahore,” Mehmood said.
Most of the trees are being planted in the Canal section between The Mall and Thokar Niaz Beg. Niaz Muhammad, the PHA director for Zone 3, which includes the Canal, said that this was because the green belt had been damaged as a result of the road expansion. The widening of the road in the 3.5-kilometre stretch resulted in a narrowing of the green belt by 8 feet on either side of the road.
According to reports, 560 to 650 trees (about 60 per cent of them eucalyptus) were chopped down for the expansion project. Initially about 13,000 trees were to be cut, but the project was remodelled as a result of the litigation moved by some NGOs in the Lahore High Court and subsequently taken up by the Supreme Court.
Apart from tree plantation, the PHA director general said that the authority would install railing, as it already had in some areas between Doctors’ Hospital and The Mall. He said that the green belt between Dharmapura and Jallo Mor would be fenced because of the high population density in the surrounding areas.
Benches were being installed near the Punjab University New Campus to encourage students to visit. The areas would be illuminated “to prevent untoward activities,” he added.
The authority has also released 2,000 floats shaped like louts flowers in the Canal, he said.
Mehmood said that the green belts covered a total area of about 500 acres. The Communication and Works Department is assisting the PHA with installing lighting and fencing.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 9th, 2012.
The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) will plant 7,000 indigenous trees and set up benches and railings to establish the Lahore Canal Heritage Park by the end of this year, said PHA Director General Muhammad Mehmood on Saturday.
The Punjab cabinet approved the Lahore Parks Heritage Act 2012 on Thursday under which the green belt along the Canal is to be converted into a park. The idea of setting up an urban park incorporating the green belts came up while the Supreme Court was hearing a challenge to the Punjab government’s plans last year to expand Canal Bank Road.
The PHA director general told The Express Tribune that 7,000 trees of indigenous species would be planted by the end of June and it would “start to look like a proper park” in six months. It will be finished by December, he said.
Unlike the mostly eucalyptus trees along the Canal earlier, the PHA will plant native shady trees such as jambul (jamun), mango, amaltas, mulberry (shatut), elkan and peepal. “Indigenous trees will help revive the local bird species lost as a consequence of development projects across Lahore,” Mehmood said.
Most of the trees are being planted in the Canal section between The Mall and Thokar Niaz Beg. Niaz Muhammad, the PHA director for Zone 3, which includes the Canal, said that this was because the green belt had been damaged as a result of the road expansion. The widening of the road in the 3.5-kilometre stretch resulted in a narrowing of the green belt by 8 feet on either side of the road.
According to reports, 560 to 650 trees (about 60 per cent of them eucalyptus) were chopped down for the expansion project. Initially about 13,000 trees were to be cut, but the project was remodelled as a result of the litigation moved by some NGOs in the Lahore High Court and subsequently taken up by the Supreme Court.
Apart from tree plantation, the PHA director general said that the authority would install railing, as it already had in some areas between Doctors’ Hospital and The Mall. He said that the green belt between Dharmapura and Jallo Mor would be fenced because of the high population density in the surrounding areas.
Benches were being installed near the Punjab University New Campus to encourage students to visit. The areas would be illuminated “to prevent untoward activities,” he added.
The authority has also released 2,000 floats shaped like louts flowers in the Canal, he said.
Mehmood said that the green belts covered a total area of about 500 acres. The Communication and Works Department is assisting the PHA with installing lighting and fencing.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 9th, 2012.