Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: To curb traffic jams, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is considering to expand the Pir Sohawa Road, which connects Margalla Hills National Park, the federal capital, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The road will also serve as an alternative route to Bari Imam.
Chairman, CDA Captain (r) Noor-ul-Amin Mengal told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination meeting chaired by MNA Nuzhat Pathan that Pir Sohawa Road traffic has become a nuisance for the Capital Territory Administration.
He stated that the Pir Sohawa Road is a disaster on holidays and the traffic congestion is endangering nature and wildlife due to significant vehicle emissions.
The civic agency is also working on PC -1 to create a welcome and information center in the national park along Pir Sohawa Road. Mengal added that surveys are underway to expand the current road to a double road and an alternate route to Pir Sohawa.
The CDA head informed the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) that the civic agency had fenced the national park for the first time in 70 years. He said the benches, gazebos, and dustbins in the federal capital were made of reusable plastics to reduce plastic pollution.
The plan has received criticism prior to this as well, when Mengal shared it on his Twitter account. Pakistan’s current climate change minister Sherry Rehman was also among those who raised objections against this plan. Regardless, the civic agency seems prepared to begin constructing this road as soon as it is approved.
