Islamabad: Cable car project shelved

[Naveed Yaseen]

The cable car project that Capital Development Authority (CDA) intended to launch in Margalla Hills of the federal capital, has been shelved owing to environmental concerns.

According to Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director General Asif Shuja Khan here on Wednesday, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Environment in a meeting held recently, decided to shelve the project owing to concerns raised by the environmentalists.

The environmentalists contended that the proposed project would involve chopping down of trees in the area, thus harming the environment, he told APP.

However, a news item published in section of press few days ago suggested otherwise and gave an impression that the government had been able to surmount the opposition by taking the opposing environmentalists on board. Source in CDA also conveyed to the scribe that government had managed to take the environmentalists into confidence on the issue to which it had been facing opposition since the days when Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao was the interior minister.

However, the revelation made by the director general, EPA laid to rest all speculations that the government would be able to install the project any time soon that invited much jubilation as well as criticism.

It may be mentioned that the cable car project was much discussed and publicised in the federal capital, saying, it was the demand of the residents of the twin cities.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=196376