Peshawar: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has set criteria for using the protected and designated forest land for construction of road and water projects if alternate land is unavailable, according to a news story published on Friday (February 11).
As per the details, the provincial cabinet has approved the summary that sets certain criteria and standard operating procedures for utilising reserved forest land for purposes other than forestry. The cabinet decided that the forest department will permit the usage of land if the approved standard operating procedures are followed.
According to the criteria, all the requests to utilise forest land for road projects or any other purpose must be accompanied by a certificate from requesting department. It should mention that no other land was available for the project.
The project request must also include financial and economic benefits if it is a strategic level project along with the population or catchment area that will benefit from the project. Moreover, a four-member committee headed by the chief conservator of the forests, central/southern forest region-I was asked to process the request of the relevant department for use of water resources and road construction. The term of references for the committee was also notified. Reportedly, the requesting department will submit its request to the committee chairman and all the requests of No Objection Certificates (NOCs) will be processed within 660 days. After that, the recommendations of the committee will be forwarded to the administrative department. The final approval will be given by the environment secretary.
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