Islamabad: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) will exchange 327 acres of land in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) with the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), news sources reported on May 22. The area will be used for the development of the Margalla Hill Road as well as the C-14 and C-15 sectors.
The CDA board of directors made the decision to swap land on Wednesday in a combined meeting with the officials of IWMB. The CDA has agreed to take over the property in the MHNP in order to restore Islamabad’s 1960 master plan. Similarly, it was said that the proposal would also prevent the realignment of the road, which could potentially delay the construction.
Under the agreement, land located in the compartments, 31 and 33 of MHNP and a piece of land towards its south would be utilised by the CDA, and this land would be de-notified from the MHNP. in exchange, CDA will allot land of Margazhar Zoo and land towards the north of sector D-12 situated in Pind Sangrial and Pind Siri Saral, which would be included in the MHNP. As per the agreed plan, in the next phase, CDA will request the federal government to denotify land from IWMB and renotify it in CDA’s name to complete the process.
Addtionally, the CDA board approved the use of a government contractor to widen the Islamabad Expressway from PWD to G.T. Road under the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s (PPRA) 42(f) rule. Due to the sensitive nature of the project, only government entities are permitted to participate in the tendering process. According to CDA sources, the project’s primary contractors would be Frontier Work Organisation (FWO) and National Logistic Cell (NLC).
Nauman Ahmad is an imaginative Pisces whose love for literature and nature is unparalleled. When he's not reading or hiking, he's sleeping and eating, which gives him plenty of energy for his next adventure.
