ISLAMABAD: Work is in full swing on the development of the new avenue in Shakarparian where the Pakistan Day parade will be held on March 23.

If there is no last minute change, the parade will be held at the Multipurpose exhibition ground located at Garden Avenue opposite the Kachnar Park on Islamabad Highway.

The ground levelling and other infrastructure development is being done by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) while the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is the executing agency of the project.

As one travels on the Islamabad Highway from Zero Point towards Faizabad, workers can be seen setting up the venue. Among the major works are establishing three thoroughfares from the Islamabad Highway to the parade avenue and the landscaping being done by the CDA.

However, the civic agency might face an embarrassment at the hands of the federal government if there is a refusal to share the amount required for the development of the parade avenue.

Being the civic body of Islamabad, the CDA has approved Rs248 for the development of the ground and sent a request to the federal government to share 50 per cent of the project cost.

“The federal government, which represents the armed forces, would also benefit from the site by holding important events there,” said a senior official of the CDA engineering wing.

The decision to develop the multi–purpose exhibition ground at Garden Avenue was finalised in 2007 where the March 23 parade is set to be held after a gap of about seven years. The March 23 parade used to be held near D-Chowk till 2008 when it was suspended due to terrorism incidents in the country.

The CDA has already spent more than Rs90 million in levelling the ground and clearing woodland at the new site.

“Despite assurances, the federal government has not yet paid anything to the CDA,” said the CDA official. Compared to 2007, there is no significant cutting of trees as apart from the fast growing paper mulberry only wild grass and shrubs have dominated the project site.

Meanwhile, as part of the security arrangements, the capital territory administration has decided to close and vacate all religious seminaries near the parade avenue from March 18 to 24.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2015

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