ISLAMABAD, March 27: Fatima Jinnah Park, the federal capital's best, is set to lose part of its lush greens to the appetite for power of the largest grey edifice rising nearby.

Dawn has learnt that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to build a grid station on the park land to feed electricity to the largest housing and commercial complex going up at Jinnah Avenue.

A CDA official, who requested anonymity, said: “The CDA Board has approved the construction of a modern grid station to light Centaraus Tower. The grid station would be big enough to meet the electricity needs of other high-rise towers that come up in future in the same commercial lane, he said.

CDA spokesman Ramzan Sajid confirmed the information. “We are establishing a modern grid station on about 2.5 acres.” He hastened to add that it was not just for Centaurus Tower but aimed to meet the energy needs for further expansion of Blue Area. “We need it at any cost,” he added.

However, civil society activist Tahira Abdullah and environmentalist Fauzia Minallah protested CDA's 'greedy plan' and called it a great public health concern and an unfriendly environmental move.

“We have the precedence of a court decision (Shehla Zia vs Wapda) which blocked the establishment of a grid station right in the middle of a housing sector,” Ms Abdullah said while talking to Dawn .

Shehla Zia, a resident of Sector F-6, won the case in 1994 when the Supreme Court blocked Wapda's decision to set up a grid station in the residential sector.

Fauzia Minallah added: “The initiative of the civic authority to oblige building tycoons and the rich through public park land is 'unfair' as this is a major health concern. Grid stations are never environmental friendly.

“We have even seen in previous suo motu cases when the Supreme Court stopped the CDA from using parks for commercial purposes, and this time too the civic body is going to use a park land for utility services.”

In 2006, the apex court cancelled a lease between the CDA and a private party for the construction of a mini-golf club in Jubilee Park near Kohsar police station in Sector F-7.

The apex court in its verdict held: “Admittedly a public park, if it is earmarked in a housing scheme, creates a right amongst the public… [to enter] the park without any obstacle, being a fundamental right enshrined in Article 26 read with Article 9 of the Constitution. It may be noted that the liberty of a person to have access or utilise a right available to him cannot be taken away by converting such facility into a commercial one, for the purpose of extending benefit to a 'third person'…”

Hundreds of citizens jog and walk in Fatima Jinnah Park on a daily basis. Besides, CDA has also established swings and rides for children and the establishment of a grid station there would be a concern for their parents.

“I think it will give a bad look to the park besides the waves coming out of the grid station are not fit for human health,” said Asiya Khatoon, who often visits the park along with her two daughters.

“It's a bad idea; don't they have any other place to install the grid station,” she asked.

But the CDA spokesman, Ramzan Sajid, insisted: “An environmental assessment has been carried out and the grid station with modern technology will be environmental friendly and will not cover a large area.”

He claimed that there was no other place to establish the grid station to meet the energy needs of Blue Area's future development,” adding this was the most suitable place.