ISLAMABAD: Until recently, Jinnah Avenue – one of the capital’s main arteries – was surrounded by luxuriant, green pine trees that provided shade and helped keep temperatures at tolerable levels.

But today, most of these trees are bare, thanks to the ill-planning and negligence involved in the development of the metro bus project.

Dozens of young pine trees were planted along Jinnah Avenue in the early 1990s. But those on the stretch between Centaurus Mall and the intersection with 9th Avenue have either withered or are at risk of dying out completely due to a lack of adequate water and damage to their roots.

The latter occurred during the construction of the metro bus track, when authorities widened the road and constructed a footpath next to the tree-line.

Even though the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was intrinsically involved in the execution of the Rs45 billion project, it did not take any steps to rescue the dying young pines.

Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz is also concerned about the problem.

“I’m also worried by the fast-dying pine trees along Jinnah Avenue. Let me assure you that we will ascertain the reasons that led to the deaths of these trees,” the mayor, who is also head of the CDA, told Dawn.

If any negligence was established on part of the civic authority’s environment directorate, the mayor promised that strict action would be taken against the guilty officials.

“I recently ordered the environment wing to carry out a survey of Jinnah Avenue. Pine tree take decades to grow, so will we do everything we can to save them,” he said.

CDA’s Director General (Environment) Dr Salman Sheikh recalls that the roots of several pine trees were damaged during the construction of the metro track, leading many of them to gradually wither. “As of today, a number of trees have died. We are in talks with the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to plant new trees,” he claimed.

“The pine trees on both sides of Jinnah Avenue added to the beauty of Islamabad. I would say that criminal proceedings should be initiated against those whose negligence caused the deaths of these trees,” said Mohammad Ramzan, a motorist.

“This is criminal negligence; why didn’t the CDA or RDA transplant these trees [elsewhere] while constructing the metro track? And why footpaths were constructed near and around the trees,” an official from the CDA’s environment wing said.

“We are experiencing a heat wave in the middle of April; you can’t bear to be under the open sky in the daytime. But it is unfortunate that the CDA has let these young pine trees to die slow death,” the official said.

Challenging the DG Environment’s claim, the official said that trees located near the underpasses may have had their roots damaged, but there were many other trees that were not receiving water following the widening of the road is not receiving water. This, he argued, was the main reason they were dying so fast.

He said that since the environment directorate was devolved to the Metropolitan Corporation following local government elections, no steps had been taken to rescue or replace the trees.

Recently, the National Highway Authority, through a contractor, also started construction work on phase II of the metro bus project without obtaining formal permission from the Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA).

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2017