ISLAMABAD: A transplanting machine used to move trees on the site of the G-7 and G-8 underpass has developed a fault, bringing operations to halt for the time being.

Sources said that the Lahore Parks and Horticulture Authority’s tree transplanting machine, which the Capital Development Authority (CDA) hired to move existing trees, developed a fault and could not be operated on Saturday.

Mechanics from Lahore are expected to arrive Monday to fix the machine, they said. On Friday, the machine was used to transplant five out of nine pine trees to a new location.

The CDA bought its own transplanting machine for Rs15 million in 2007, but that machine cannot be used for large trees.

An official from the environment wing, which was devolved from the CDA to the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad in 2016, said that the machine was bought at a very high price and suggested that the purchase warranted an inquiry.

According to a statement, a committee was constituted under directions from the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) to transplant grown trees affected by the construction of the underpass which is supervising the process.

The committee has directed the concerned formation to ensure the transplanted trees are monitored to ensure their survival so that once the project is complete it could add to the environment in its surroundings.

It said that the CDA has also devised a policy to plant 30 plants in lieu of one affected tree. Under this policy, new trees are planted and affected trees transplanted to alternative locations.

In line with the CDA management’s directions, tree plantation has been carried out in the surroundings of the under-construction underpass. Five to eight feet tall grown plants were planted in September last year, before development work on the project began, to improve the surrounding environment.

These included250 alistonia plants, 200 pilkhan plants, 300 chirpine plants, 40 sapium and 200 sukhchain plants.It was kept in consideration that these plants could withstand local weather conditions so that their growth could be ensured.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2020