ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is considering to construct tunnels in Margalla mountains to have access to Khanpur and other areas of the Hazara division to boost economic and development activities on either side , CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari told Dawn on Thursday.

He said the plan was floated by Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

He said the ministers had suggested the construction of two or three tunnels between Islamabad and the areas of the Hazara division.

He quoted Omar Ayub, who is the grandson of former president Gen Ayub Khan, as saying that the construction of the tunnels was also proposed in the master plan of Islamabad.

"With the construction of the tunnels, people from both the sides would benefit from the resources of each other," the CDA chairman said.

He said the other side of Islamabad (Hazara division), where the native village of former president Ayub Khan also fell, was a backward area and after construction of the proposed tunnels, this area could also be developed in a planned way.

Similarly, the people of Islamabad would benefit from agriculture and other resources of the Hazara division.