Infrastructure work: Government allowed to widen Canal Road

Supreme Court say widening project will benefit road users

LAHORE:

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday rejected objections to a Canal Road widening project and allowed the provincial government to proceed with a plan to widen the road between Dharampura and Harbanspura and from Doctor’s Hospital to the Thokar Niaz Beg overhead bridge.

Dismissing a contempt of court petition filed by the Lahore Bachao Tehreek (LBT), the three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, allowed the provincial government to cut trees and acquire greenbelts along the canal in the two stretches to widen the road. The bench observed that if protection of the Heritage Park site could be ensured and minimal impact on the environment guaranteed the addition of a third lane would facilitate smooth flow of traffic.

Further, the court dismissed the LBT’s contention that the project violated the Lahore Canal Heritage Park Act.

The bench observed that residents of neighbourhoods in the vicinity of the two Canal Road stretches frequently used the road to travel to schools and hospitals located in the city centre. It said traffic congestion during rush hours had been causing inconvenience to such commuters as well as ambulances transporting patients in need of emergency care. It stated that delay in widening of the road was affecting the quality of life of people living in the vicinity. The bench noted that the government had stated that each tree cut during the project would be replaced with 10. Therefore, it said the cutting of trees should not be an environmental hazard.

The LBT had opposed the government application, saying the Canal had been declared a Heritage Park, pursuant to The Lahore Canal Heritage Park Act of 2013. It had argued that widening of the road was not a durable solution to traffic congestion on the road. It had sought alternative means to overcome traffic congestion.

The LBT had stated that the Canal Park was a public trust site. It had opposed the project, saying that its benefits would trickle down to only about eight percent  population of the city (vehicle owners). It had also sought contempt of court action against the authorities concerned for having cut trees in violation of an SC judgment from 2011.

Advocate Khwaja Haris, counsel for the provincial government, had submitted that widening of the road was needed in view of traffic congestion on the two stretches. He had stated that slow movement of traffic was more harmful for the environment because it caused greater emission of pollutants as well as more noise.

The counsel had also argued against the LBT objection that the project was in violation of the Lahore Canal Heritage Park Act of 2013 and the doctrine of public trust. He had argued that the law allowed the government to undertake infrastructure development project, after environment impact assessment, in portions of the Heritage Park if needed. “The government is allowed to proceed with the project with permission from the PHA and the EPA.”

The government plans to construct a 1.3 kilometre long underpass between Dharampura and Harbanspura, starting at the Chaubucha Interchange. A third lane will be added to the Canal Road along the stretch from Doctors Hospital to Thokar Niaz Beg. The road between Doctors Hospital and Ferozepur Road already has three lanes.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2015.