Mitigating disaster: Landslide areas reinforced on Murree Expressway

RAWALPINDI:

The Punjab Forest Department, in collaboration with the National Highway Authority (NHA), has reinforced over 80 per cent of landslide areas along the Murree Expressway over the last six months.

The forest department, under the NHA-funded “Bio-Engineering Works” project, planted saplings to stop land erosion particularly during monsoon and snowfall.

Rawalpindi Circle Forest Conservator Ahmed Qureshi told APP that several types of saplings have been planted in rows to reinforce earth in landslide-prone areas.

“This has made travelling on the highway much more safe,” he said. Qureshi said the reinforcements have also secured villages and homes in the vicinity of the expressway.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2014.