The country’s top court has given 10 weeks time to capital’s civic authorities to rehabilitate and repair green belts and footpaths damaged by the Metro Bus Project.
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) counsel informed the Supreme Court that Rs181 millions have been allocated for beautification, plantation and repair of footpaths damaged during the construction work.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, on Tuesday took up the suo motu case nine months after Senator Mushahid Hussain wrote a letter to the human rights cell of the apex court on March 10 seeking the CJP’s intervention because of the environmental impact of the project.
In response to a question from the bench, the counsel said that the project would be completed by mid-February 2015. The project, earlier, was scheduled to be completed by January 31, 2015.
The court adjourned the case till mid-March 2015 to give the CDA time to rehabilitate the green belts after completion of the construction work.
Meanwhile, the bench rejected another plea by an applicant who maintained that there was no need for the metro bus in the capital.
During the hearing, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) counsel S A Rehman and Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed submitted their reports to the court on the environmental concerns raised by the senator.
According to the reports, work on the project was initiated after getting a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA). They also maintained that the project did not violate the Islamabad Master Plan.
Punjab’s Additional Advocate General Razzaq A Mirza informed the bench that environmental issues had been considered before the start of the project.
On the other hand, Senator Hussain told the bench that he was not against the mass transit project and that he only highlighted the violation of environmental laws.
He said the project has damaged green belts along the route and that the project cost has also been increased.
Upon this, the chief justice asked him what the Supreme Court could do about this. The applicant requested the bench to direct the government to plant trees and repair the footpaths and green belts damaged during the construction work.
The CDA’s counsel assured the bench that the civic agency would undertake plantation and green belts’ repair work after the completion of the construction work. He said that Rs181 million had already been collected from the construction companies on this account.
Former CJP Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on March 14 had sought detailed reports from CDA Chairman Maroof Afzal and Metro Bus Project Director Zahid Saeed as to whether the project was posing any threat to Islamabad’s master plan or its green belts, and whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) had been carried out.
“These reports, together with technical reports, if any, by the Pak-EPA, Punjab Environmental Protection Agency and Climate Change Division [should be] submitted by March 18, 2014,” the court had directed. Talking to the media outside the court, Senator Mushahid Hussain welcomed the court directives to authorities to replant trees, and rehabilitate green belts and footpaths damaged during the construction.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2014.
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