Cost of development: Margalla Highway realignment risks causing massive deforestation

Two kilometres of Punjab forest land falls in the path of the proposed realigned highway route

ISLAMABAD:

The Capital Development Authority may have to clear two kilometres of forest land under a plan to link Margalla Highway with Murree Expressway.

Sources privy to the development confirmed that a proposal aimed at realigning a portion of Margalla Highway stretching from Constitution Avenue to Kot Hathiyal — a suburban area some two kilometres from Murree Expressway — is under consideration.

The plan comes on the heels of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro bus project, which saw hundreds of trees uprooted in the capital.

Under the original plan, Margalla Highway would end in Kot Hathiyal near Bhara Kahu, rather than directly linking to the expressway.

If approved, the plan would pave the way for destruction of acres of Punjab forest land along the new route. A CDA official said that the authority has decided to take up issue with the Punjab Forest Department.

“We are examining the proposal,” said CDA Director Roads (North) Shahid Mehmood. The suggestion is at preliminary stage, Mehmood said, adding that the CDA’s land survey department had yet to submit a feasibility report with the Planning Wing.



Another senior CDA official, who requested not to be named, said the proposal provides for the road to pass by the Quaid-e-Azam University Department of Physics, enter forest land and bypass populated areas near Bhara Kahu to merge with the entry point of Murree Expressway.

He said the work on the project had been delayed because of the ongoing Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) sit-in.

In April 2014, the CDA floated an advertisement seeking proposals from construction firms for the construction of Margalla Highway from Constitution Avenue to Murree Road. The plan, however, was put on hold for reasons unknown.

The federal government had also assured the city managers of sufficient funds for the project under the Public Sector Development Programme.

The 32-kilometre-long Margalla Highway would connect the motorway with the Murree Expressway. It aims to facilitate commuters heading to Murree by allowing them to bypass bust roads in the capital.

Around 50 per cent of construction work on an 8.5-kilometre patch of the road from GT Road near Sangjani to Sector D-12 has already been completed.

There are, however, a number of disputes over a 14.5-kilometre-long portion, which passes through the north-east edge of the E-series of sectors, which houses numerous military installations.

Meanwhile, tendering is under way for the 9-kilometre-long patch stretching from Constitution Avenue to Murree Expressway.

More than meets the eye?

A CDA official said that the decision to realign the road had been taken as there are a number of encroachments along the third portion of the highway. “It is relatively easy to chop trees rather than demolishing illegal structures,” the official said.

Conversely, CDA Engineering Member Shahid Sohail told The Express Tribune that under the original plan, the road would end near a populated area, namely Kot Hathiyal. “It’s basically a ring road. If it culminates in a residential area, it would not serve its purpose,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2014.