ISLAMABAD: First the Metro bus project badly damaged the greenbelts and environment of Islamabad, and now the laying of optical fibre cables for making it a ‘safe city’ has held up the work on bringing the damaged landscape back to health.

Under the safe city project being executed under the supervision of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) will install around 2,000 cameras in the city.

At the moment, trenches have been dug along the roads in different parts of the city. The roads included Margalla Avenue (especially F-6 to F-5), Jinnah Avenue, Expressway, Ibn-i-Sina Road (G-8 to G-10) and other patches of roads in sector F-10. The digging for the trenches will continue for a few months.

Also read: Islamabad, The Beauti-woe-ful

Roads, greenbelts dug out to lay fibre cables for installation of security cameras

On July 13, Shahid Hamid, the member finance at Nadra, informed the National Assembly standing committee on planning, development and reforms that the project worth $124 million would be completed by October this year. Under the project, 1,950 cameras will be installed all over the city. Out of these, 1,706 would be surveillance cameras and 244 for the vehicle management.

He said the contract had been awarded to a Chinese company and fibre optic cables were being laid all over the city as all the cameras would be connected to a command and control centre.

An official of the CDA requesting not to be identified said the CDA had spent millions of rupees on the beautification of the greenbelts, landscaping and parking areas in the city.

Moreover, flowers have been planted on the median strips to make the city beautiful, he added.

“The safe city project has badly affected the beauty of the federal capital. We don’t have any objection over the project as it will secure the city but the landscaping should not be damaged during the work.” He said the directorate of municipal administration had sent a letter to Nadra pointing out the issue but things remained the same.

Naeem Ahmed, a resident of the federal capital, said he felt disappointed whenever he saw work on the project going on without a proper planning.

“Almost every day, I go to the Track V for a walk and even the parking area in front of the judicial colony near Track V has been dug up. The other areas of the city are also affected in a similar way,” he said.

An official of the CDA environment wing said the contractor should ensure that after digging the land is repaired and the dug-out spots refilled.

When contacted, officials in the CDA were reluctant to speak on record about the issue.

The member finance Nadra told Dawn that he had been keenly observing the situation.

“The contractor has been filling the dug-out areas after laying the cables. He has been directed to repair each dug-out area and restore it to its earlier shape,” he said.

“The residents of the federal capital need not to worry because under the agreement the contractor has to repair all the damages to the landscaping,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2015

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