ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has cut down a large number of trees along the Attaturk Avenue for making the road dual.

It is common for the CDA to cut down trees for the expansion of roads.

The civic agency had also chopped down hundreds of trees for the expansion of the Islamabad Highway in the recent past.

An official in the environment directorate said at least some of the trees could have been re-planted at other locations.

He said the CDA and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad do not have a proper tree transplanting machine and that the one they have, which is also not working, can only uproot plants and very small trees with a diameter of just a few inches.

The matter of tree cutting was also taken up by a sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Monday. Headed by Senator Kalsoom Perveen, the committee asked why green trees are being chopped off.

CDA Member Planning Asad Mehboob Kayani, who also holds charge as member engineering defended the move and said the trees were cut off for the expansion of roads.

“We also got an environmental impact assessment study for the project and we will plant more trees and plants to replace the ones that were cut off,” he said, adding that the location from which the trees were chopped off was reserved for the road’s expansion.

A portion of a cricket ground and tennis courts are also in the way of the road’s expansion.

The project for expanding the said road was started last month and will be completed in a year at the cost of Rs235 million.

One more lane of more than 24 feet and a nine foot shoulder is being added to the road and a bridge and two box culverts are also included in the project.

The Ataturk Avenue was originally a service road to the 6th Avenue, which is yet to be constructed.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2017