ISLAMABAD: Nine adult pine trees could be among those felled during the construction of the G-7 and G-8 underpass, but the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is trying to obtain a tree transplanting machine from the Lahore Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) to transplant them.

“We are making every effort to save the nine pine trees that are hampering construction work. We are trying to get a tree planter from PHA Lahore to shift the trees,” CDA Member Engineering Humayun Akhtar said.

No pine trees have been felled so far, he said, but nine are in the gray area. The trees stand along Faisal Avenue at Zero Point. A number of trees were also felled during the construction of the Zero Point interchange.

Mr Akhtar said 34 trees, including 11 pines, were supposed to be cut down. Two of the 11 have been saved by changing the project design.

Authority trying to obtain machine to transplant pines, member engineering says

“We are conscious of these pine trees. Rest assured we will take every possible step to save them,” he said, adding that the CDA has already planted 1,000 trees near the project site to replace the 34 that will need to be felled.

A CDA engineer remarked that the construction of roads is imperative along with protecting the environment.

“You cannot just stop construction to save trees,” he said, adding that Faisal Avenue is one of the capital’s busiest roads and has two sharp U-turns, one at Zero Point and one near the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, where traffic accidents have been taking place because of congestion.

The CDA obtained the necessary environmental impact analysis (EIA) from the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) before it started the Rs395 million project.

But sources said that the Pak-EPA recently suspended the EIA because, according to Director General Farzana Altaf Shah the CDA did not follow some directives.

CDA spokesperson Syed Safdar Ali said that the agency did not convey the reasons why it suspended the EIA, so the authority has contacted them in this regard.

“We are following their instructions. As a mitigation, we planted around 1,000 trees so we want to know what prompted them to suspect the EIA,” he said.

Ms Shah told Dawn that the CDA has set up a camp office on a greenbelt and has not deputed an environmentalist at the site. They also have not formed a committee so far.

“They are in touch with us and as soon as they provide us the details we will restore the EIA,” she said, adding that according to the EIA 30 trees will be cut down during construction.

She added that the CDA is directed to take every possible measure to save the adult pine trees.

“The CDA should transplant the pine trees,” she said.

When asked why the Pak-EPA gave the go-ahead to chop down adult pine trees, Ms Altaf said: “Before issuing the EIA we conduct a study. We got input related to roads and transport. No doubt, this interchange is needed to ease traffic on the busy road as several serious accidents have already taken place on this road.”

She added that the CDA is directed to take every possible step to avoid cutting at least the pine trees.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2019