PHA to plant 1,000 trees along signal-free corridor

Estimates the number of trees cut during construction at 291

LAHORE:

The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) says it will plant 1,000 trees along the stretch from Qurtaba Chowk on Jail Road to Liberty Roundabout on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard to compensate for the trees cut during the construction of the signal-free corridor.

The PHA has put the number of trees expected to be felled along the stretch at 291. This brings the ratio of trees planted along the stretch to those cut during the construction phase at a little over 3:1. The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the project had said that the ratio would be at least 10:1. The same document had said that the number of trees planted would be at least double the number cut or damaged during the construction phase.



Javed Shaida, the PHA public relations officer, says plantation will commence after completion of construction work. He says the areas along the route where trees will be planted have been identified and marked.

He says the PHA plans to plant at least 600 trees along the stretch on Jail Road from Qartaba Chowk to Fowara Chowk. He puts the number of trees to be cut along the stretch at 166.

He says Ashok tree species will be planted on the green belt in the median and Amaltas, Alstonia, Ficus and Gul Mohur species on green belts along the outer edge of the corridor.

The PHA spokesman says that during construction of the corridor around 125 trees will be cut along the stretch of Gulberg’s Main Boulevard from Siddique Trade Center to Liberty Roundabout. These will be replaced with 400 trees, he adds.

The species planted along the stretch will be Bougainvillea and Berri Patta.

He says the landscaping on verges, triangles, and u-turns will feature flowering plants.

The PRO says the number of trees expected to be cut along the corridor route was higher under the initial design of the project. The design was modified by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and the Traffic, Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) after widespread criticism from environment activists, bringing down the number of trees to be cut.



Further, the PRO says the authority is taking care to select the right tree species for plantation along the corridor. “The PHA is ensuring that indigenous tree species that are known to attract greater number of birds are planted along the corridor,” he says.

He says the number of birds in the city has gone down over the recent years because of replacement of indigenous tree species with exotic species like palm and eucalyptus.

He says having already purchased machinery needed to move trees, the PHA will not need to rent it.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2015.