PESHAWAR, Sept 1: More than 1150 trees of various varieties will be cut down to pave way for widening a provincial highway in the Malakand region of the NWFP attracting mixed reaction from the stakeholders about the environmental impact of the road project.

A total of 1174 trees involving estimated volume of 62,965 cubic feet on both sides of the 12-kilometre long stretch of the Landakai-Chakdarra road have been marked by the environment department, NWFP that would be removed to clear the surface to widen the road.

A large number of the trees have already been cut after fulfilment of official procedural requirements that also include granting approval by the authorities concerned of the provincial environment department, according to a section officer of the department.

"Hundreds of the marked trees, out of the total 1174, have yet to be cut to pave the way for the project executing agencies," said an official of the office of the district forest officer (DFO), Mingora.

Launched in February 2004 and required to be completed by the end of June 2005, the Landakai-Chakdarra road project involving a total estimated cost of Rs140 million forms part of the multi- billion rupee foreign funded Malakand Rural Development Project (MRDP).

Official and independent circles contacted by Dawn came up with divergent views viz-a-viz environmental impact by the massive cutting of trees including large number of sheesham trees, poplar trees, ailanthus excelsa and mulberry.

However, all of the them agreed that large scale cutting of trees would lead to raise temperature and undermine the beauty of the area. Environmental experts said that except for mulberry trees, all other trees' varieties that were being cut under the road widening project were not local species, hence, their removal would not harm the eco system in the area.

"Removal of scores of sheesham and poplar trees would not carry any major negative environmental impact except for raising temperature in the area that could be controlled by planting indigenous plants," said Habib Ahmed, of the World-Wide Fund (WWF), Peshawar.

Elimination of exotic species like poplar, he maintained, would help improve under-ground water level, wet and farm lands. However, he said, a study should be conducted on scientific bases in the area to take appropriate measures for protecting those local species that were already on the list of endangered species.

Alamgir Gandapur, DFO, Mingora, also appeared to be of the view that cutting of sheesham and poplar trees would not harm environment of the area. "The serenity of the area that would be lost because of cutting of trees can easily be recovered in next four to five years by planting poplar trees," said Mr Gandapur - a point opposed by WWF's Mr Ahmed.

He said that poplar trees did not belong to Swat valley so the authorities should avoid to plant them again to achieve short-term gains. "Only the indigenous species should be planted," said Mr Ahmed.

Nonetheless, environmentalists including Molines and Dr Adil Zareef, both based in Peshawar, opposed the cutting of trees and said that the government should have acquired new land to execute the road widening project that is meant to enhance capacity of the Landakai-Chakdarra road because of growing traffic flow.

Ms Molines said: "It is outrageous. If there are no trees on both sides of the road it would lead to raise the temperature, increase dust and would leave the area exposed."

Dr Zareef, of the Sarhad Conservation Network (SCN) - an organization established on voluntary basis by doctors and academicians, said that large scale cutting of trees would affect tourism in the Swat valley, apart from rendering negative impact to the environment of the area.

"Who would go to Swat when the road leading to it loses its serenity and beauty, it was famous for," said Dr Zareef. He said that several trees were 70 to 100 years old - a point rejected by local authorities of the forest department.

A DFO, Malakand agency, official said that poplar trees that would be cut were 25 to 30 years old - a stand supported by the DFO Mingora, Mr Gandapur. A Swat-based official of the Frontier Highway Authority (FHA) - the project executing agency - told this reporter that maximum care had been taken to avoid massive cutting of trees.

However, he said that the government did not have any other option to widen the road except for cutting the roadside trees some of which, he maintained, had become too dangerous for the vehicular traffic.

"With their expanded branches, some of the trees were posing major risk to human lives as in certain incidents speedy vehicles had collided with the roadside trees," said a senior officer of the FHA.

He said that cost of the project would have increased manifold in case of acquiring new land for the road widening project. The provincial highway between Landakai and Chakdarra snakes through the highly fertile land.