Islamabad: Work on Zero Point Interchange continues despite ban

[Naveed Yaseen]

* CDA official says EIA report to be submitted to Pak-EPA by January 15

By Imran Naeem Ahmad

ISLAMABAD: Work on Zero Point Interchange has steadily continued despite an official suspension ordered by the Minister for Environment Hameedullah Jan Afridi.

The directive to stop work on the Rs 2.3 billion project came this month after the Capital Development Authority (CDA) failed to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, mandatory for such projects.

However, an official of the CDA told Daily Times on Tuesday that it was their understanding with the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) that the report would be submitted by Jan 15.

“The consultants are working on the report which would be duly presented to Pak-EPA by the given date,” said the official, insisting that CDA in no way wanted to offend the environment officials.

At the start of the month the Pak-EPA asked CDA to stop construction work on the project, the order being issued under Section 16 of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act.

This decision was fully endorsed by the environment minister who visited the project site a day later where he formally told the CDA officials to cease work till the submission of the report.

But the CDA official said that work had continued all along and that the contractors were now in the process of erecting girders. He however pointed out that the pace of work was not as fast as it was in the first couple of months.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had laid the foundation stone of the project in September and the subsequent months saw the contractor setting a sizzling pace.

The intervention by Pak-EPA was initially seen as throwing a spanner in the works, yet the CDA official said that both parties were respectful of each other and there were no harsh feelings of any kind.

The official said that CDA was not oblivious to Islamabad’s environment and for the first time it was in the process of transplanting 428 trees taken out from the project site. “At the moment we are transplanting 38 trees, after which the rest would be taken up,” he said.

He said the exact number of trees actually cut down stood at 297 of which 96 were the Eucalyptus variety while 201 were the allergy-causing Paper Mulberry.

Project Director Mumtaz Hussain said that consultants, Nespak, were collecting data for the EIA that would be submitted soon.

He said that Stage-I of the project would be completed within the next six to seven months. The phase involves widening of portions of Islamabad and Kashmir Highways and construction of link roads and loops.

“Once we are done with the links, the traffic would be diverted there,” he said, adding that only a section of Islamabad Highway was to be shut down during Stage-II.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg11_6