The government is considering expanding the Canal Road over the green belt that has been declared a heritage park by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, The Express Tribune has learnt.
In its fourth meeting on Thursday, a committee formed under the Canal Heritage Park (CHP) Act, 2013 discussed a plan to widen the Canal Road at three locations and requested the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) to present a compressive plantation plan to replace the trees that would be cut down in any expansion.
According to the 2013 act, the advisory committee was only constituted to protect the Canal Heritage Park and no provision allows it to discuss any expansion projects. The committee was formed after the apex court directed the government to declare the Lahore canal and the green belt on either side of it from Jallo Park to Thokar Niaz Beg a public trust. “It shall be treated as a heritage urban park forthwith and declared so by an act to be passed by the assembly,” the court had stated. According to Section 6 of CHP Act, the committee’s functions were to advise the PHA on the proper upkeep and maintenance of the heritage park and on any other matter ancillary to the discharge of its functions under the 2013 law.
During the meeting, the Traffic Engineering & Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) presented the plan for widening the Canal Road. As per the plan, 12 feet of green belt on either side of the canal would be used to widen the road from Doctors Hospital to Thokar Niaz Beg, a stretch of 3.25 kilometres.
From The Mall to Harbanspura, a 5.5-kilometre section, the road would be expanded on either side by 12 feet. As many as 468 trees would be chopped down during the construction of phase one. In the second phase, the road would be widened from Harbanspura to Jallo. In all, around 1,600 trees would be cut down during the road expansion.
Members of the civil society objected to the expansion of the road and suggested focusing on traffic management instead.
TEPA officials briefed the members regarding the plan for traffic management in Lahore and said that Rs80 billion would be spent to improve roads and traffic management in next few years.
Talking to The Express Tribune, PHA Director General Mian Shakeel agreed that discussion on the road’s expansion was not part of the mandate of the committee. However, he said the CHP Act did not prohibit the committee to discuss such an issue. He said the advisory committee could only make suggestions to the PHA, which had the authority to decide on allowing construction for the project. He said that during the meeting members were informed that some 2,000 trees had been cut during construction of the metro bus project, but no one had raised any objection. “Why should there be objections during the construction of the Canal Road?” he asked.
He said the objective to set up the committee was to bring the civil society on board. He said that the PHA had been requested to prepare an alternative plantation plan if the Canal Road widening took place. He said that the authority would plant four trees for every tree that was cut down. He said traffic management was being done but expansion was needed for Canal Road.
Imrana Tiwana of Lahore Bachao Tehreek said that they would move the court against the committee formed to protect the heritage discussing the expansion project. She said the judgement of the SC had already been violated through construction work on Canal Road. She said that the authorities should focus on traffic management and even if they were permitted to widen the road now, they would again move for another expansion in a few yeas until no greenery remained.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2014.