The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is considering expanding the Pir Sohawa Road, which connects Margalla Hills National Park, the federal capital, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, to alleviate traffic congestion. The road will also act as a detour to Bari Imam.

Captain (r) Noor-ul-Amin Mengal, Chairman of the Capital Territory Administration, told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, led by MNA Nuzhat Pathan, that Pir Sohawa Road traffic has become a nuisance for the Capital Territory Administration.

He claimed that the Pir Sohawa Road is a nightmare during the holidays, and that traffic congestion endangers ecology and wildlife owing to substantial car emissions.

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The civic agency is also working on PC -1 to build a welcome and information center along Pir Sohawa Road in the national park. Mengal further stated that surveys are being conducted to widen the current road to a double road and to create an alternate route to Pir Sohawa.

The CDA chief informed the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) that for the first time in 70 years, the civic agency has walled the national park. He claimed that the federal capital’s benches, gazebos, and trash cans were built of reusable plastics to decrease plastic pollution.

The concept had already attracted criticism when Mengal released it on his Twitter account. Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s current climate change minister, was also among those who objected to the plan. Regardless, the civic agency appears ready to start building this road as soon as it is approved.