ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Thursday informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that most trees cut for the expansion of the Islamabad Expressway were paper mulberry.

CDA Member Environment Syed Mustafain Kazmi, during the hearing for a petition filed against the cutting of trees for the expansion of the road, said this species has been causing allergies and asthma among the residents of the federal capital.

He claimed that 85 per cent of trees which were cut for the expansion of the expressway from Rawat to Zero Point were paper mulberry and needed to be cut anyway. He said the CDA was required to chop off a total of 500 paper mulberry trees and 7000 new saplings would be planted along the expressway after the completion of the project.

The petition was filed with the IHC by Bilal Haque, Rafia Qasim and Saima Omer against what they termed `illegal` expansion of the Islamabad Expressway, in violation of the`Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997` and the `Capital Development Authority Ordinance 1960` (CDA Ordinance 1960).

The project includes expansion of Islamabad Expressway (from Zero Point to Rawat) to five lanes on both sides and the construction of six new interchanges. The petition alleged that the project would require hundreds of fully-grown trees to be cut.

The petition claims that the project is being executed in contravention to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997, Section 12, whichrequiresthatanEnvironmental Impact Assessment (EIA) be filed and approved by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency.

The Islamabad Expressway project was planned in 2014 and put on the back burner after the launch of the Metro Bus Project. The petition notes that despite the delay, no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report was provided to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency by the CDA.