Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) in its meeting on Wednesday approved a proposal to construct the boundary wall of zoo-cum-botanical garden with the total cost of Rs 109.04 million.

The idea of the zoo-cum-botanical garden was first incorporated in the master plan of Islamabad in 1968 and subsequently a land measuring 583 acres situated in four revenue estates of Mohra Noor, Phulgran, Atthal and Mallot was also allocated to the Zoological Survey of Pakistan in 1989.

A working paper to construct a boundary wall around the said green area was deliberated upon in the meeting of the CDWP, which was approved.

The project would be executed by the Ministry of Climate Change, and be completed within the next one-and-a-half years. The total cost of the project is Rs 109.04 million and it is expected to be completed in December 2018.

In the past, though, 160 boundary pillar were erected around the same land, while the fencing work was also initiated in 2009 after a demarcation carried out by the Survey of Pakistan with the assistance of the ICT Revenue Department, but the same project could not be completed at that time.

It is quite essential to mention here that two housing societies namely Park View Housing Society and Park Enclave were involved in encroachment over the garden’s land.

The Park Enclave is a project of FIA Employees Cooperative Housing Society, while one of the senior leaders of PTI, Aleem Khan, is the co-owner of the Park View Housing Society.

The matter was once again highlighted in March 2017, when the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo motu notice of a letter written by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, drawing the court’s attention towards the encroachment upon the zoo-cum-botanical garden and municipal lawlessness in the area of Bani Gala.

The court in its first hearing restricted the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) from giving new utility connection to those buildings lacking an NOC from the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Meanwhile, the CDWP approved development projects worth Rs 130 billion, including a CPEC scheme ‘Revival of Karachi Circular Railway’ and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s Peshawar Sustainable Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project.

The CDWP recommended ECNEC to consider approval of seven mega projects in the energy, transport communication, water resources and manpower sectors.

The CDWP also accorded concept clearance to two projects – construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway (M6) worth Rs 238 billion and Sindh Renewable Energy Development Project (SREDP) worth $122 million.

The CDWP also reviewed two position papers of ongoing project in the education and water resources sectors worth Rs 64 billion.

In the transport and communication sector, the CDWP recommended four mega projects of worth Rs 102 billion to ECNEC, besides approving the revival of the Karachi Circular Railway worth Rs 27.6 billion. Moreover, it approved Rs 56.8 billion Peshawar Sustainable Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project, Karachi Neighborhood Improvement Project (KNIP) worth Rs 10.5 billion and a Rs 7 billion project for the construction of a four-lane bridge across Indus River.

In the energy sector, the CDWP approved a 30MW hydropower project at Ghowari in Gilgit-Baltistan with an estimated cost of Rs 7.9 billion, besides giving a nod to six projects in the water resource sector. The projects include construction of three dams in Pashin and Lorlai areas of Balochistan and work on raising the level of Baran Dam, worth Rs 5 billion.

The CDWP also approved ‘Prime Minister’s Youth Skill Development Programme (Phase-IV) 2017-18’ with an estimated cost of Rs 6 billion.