ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to get an environment impact assessment (EIA) report before proceeding further in the metro bus service project.

According to the design prepared by Nespak, a separate seven-metre-wide track would be built on the greenbelts on the I-8 /H-8 and G-8 sides of 9th Avenue and Jinnah Avenue for the metro bus service.

Scores of young and old trees will be uprooted to construct the track by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) which will execute the Rs38 billion transport project between the twin cities.Two days back, the civic agency of Islamabad succumbed to the pressure from the top political leadership of the country by agreeing not only to allow the Punjab government to construct the separate track but also to use the greenbelts for the project.

Working at a fast track, the CDA management sent the PC-1 of the project to the federal government.

But the CDWP of the federal government on Thursday granted a conditional approval to the CDA over the Rs24 billion PC-1 of the Islamabad segment of the metro bus.

The two conditions are: to present the EIA report prepared by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and consider measures to reduce the cost of the project.

Wasting no time, a joint committee was formed on Thursday noon for the validation of the project. The committee comprised officials from the CDA, the Panning Commission, consultants of the project, the RDA and the finance ministry.

Though the committee continued its meeting late Thursday, the environmental concerns seemed not its priority.

Neither the CDA, the project consultant - Nespak - bothered to submit a request to the EPA for the EIA report nor the environment watchdog bothered to take note of the situation.

An official of the EPA acknowledged that the agency took notice of any major project by writing letters to the executing authority even if the information came through the press.

“But I am not aware if any formal request for EIA of the metro bus project has been received or if we have written to them,” said Dilshad Ahmed, the acting director general of EPA.

“We seek permission from the parent department, the Climate Change Division, and after that a minimum of four pollutants are assessed,” the expert said, adding: “These are the impact of the project on air pollution, noise pollution, soil and water pollution. But unlike the rest of the country, the most serious consideration in Islamabad is the assessment by the forest wing.”

The planned route of the metro bus envisages that the track would be established over seven metres of greenbelt on 9th Avenue that would affect hundreds of trees. But the track over greenbelt at Jinnah Avenue would destroy decades old pine trees.