The Capital Development Authority (CDA) Board has given the nod to the suggestion of swapping 327 acres between the civic agency and Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) Area.
According to a board member, 327 acres of the national park area came in the alignment of the under-construction Margalla Road while partially in CDA’s C-14 and C-15 sectors.
The member informed the meeting that the alignment of road sectors formed a part of Islamabad’s master plan built in the 1960s.
Moreover, in 1980, the federal government marked a separate Margalla Hills National Park area, which comprised some area of the planned road and the two sectors.
Read more: CDA developed around 50 new parks costing Rs 341 million across Islamabad
CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed had a detailed meeting with IWMB officers and concluded that the road and sector land came within the MHNP’s reserve forest compartments; the CDA would use 31 and 33 and a land portion towards its south. In contrast, this land would be de-notified from the MHNP.
The equivalent land comprising Margazhar Zoo and CDA’s acquired area towards the north of sector D-12 in Pind Siri Saral and Pind Sangrial would be included in the Margalla Hills National Park.
Meanwhile, the meeting also gave approval to the widening of the Islamabad Expressway from PWD to G.T. Road using the service of a government contractor under the 42(f) rule of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).
“Now that the current fiscal year is ending and the CDA budget has already posted a surplus, the civic body’s chairman has approved this long due project, including a route for blue line metro bus service,” CDA spokesperson Syed Asif Raza said.
“The bus routes will be linked with each other so that a person who boards from Bhara Kahu can either commute to Rawalpindi or travel to the airport. This initiative will make Islamabad the first city in Pakistan to offer multiple connectivities, linking the city’s four corners,” Raza added.
