After fire causes enormous loss, CDA takes steps to restore greenery over Margalla Hills

2026-03-07 - 21:03

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has initiated steps to plant thousands of saplings and preserve greenery in the federal capital after recent fires caused significant environmental damage in the Margalla Hills. According to officials, fire that broke out in the Margalla Hills near Margalla Avenue earlier this week resulted in considerable loss of vegetation, prompting authorities to accelerate efforts for restoration and plantation in affected areas. In order to restore green cover of the Margallas and the natural habitat, the CDA formally requested the Ministry of Climate Change to provide thousands of saplings to help compensate for the loss of trees in the federal capital and to support the upcoming spring plantation campaign. In a letter to the ministry, the director environment of the CDA submitted a list of indigenous tree species required for plantation across Islamabad. The authority has requested around 45,000 saplings of species including Amaltas, Jacaranda Arjan, Kachnar, Tecoma, Siris (Shreen) and Phulai. Officials said the plantation drive was part of efforts to replace paper mulberry trees across the city, which the authority described as an invasive species linked to severe seasonal allergies. It was in January this year, when the civic body cut down nearly 28,000 to 29,000 fully grown trees across various parts of Islamabad. The CDA had insisted that it was in fact removal of paper mulberry trees carried out in compliance with directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The large-scale cutting of trees had sparked public criticism and concern from environmental groups. However, both the CDA and the climate ministry maintained that paper mulberry trees were a major source of pollen allergies and had been associated with respiratory problems among asthma patients. Apart from the removal of paper mulberry trees, a number of other trees were cut in the H-8 sector where a public park is being upgraded. Tree cutting also took place in the Chak Shahzad area for the construction of a dual carriageway associated with the CDA-DHA housing project. Field assessments conducted by WWF-Pakistan highlighted the scale and environmental impact of these operations. The organization’s documentation suggested that not all tree removals were limited to paper mulberry or solely related to public health concerns about pollen and allergies. The findings emphasized the need for a structured, transparent and science-based urban tree management strategy. A senior CDA official said the list of required saplings had been shared with the climate ministry following its request for details regarding the plantation drive. The issue of tree plantation and urban greenery was also discussed recently during a meeting between Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik and CDA Chairman Muhammad Ali Randhawa. However, a senior official of the climate ministry said that it was not a usual practice for the CDA to obtain saplings from the ministry for plantation drives. “CDA has its own nurseries and had never made such a request before,” the official said, adding that saplings provided under the Billion Tree Tsunami campaign had mainly come from nurseries located in the provinces. Officials said further consultations between the two institutions would determine how the saplings would be arranged to support the capital’s spring plantation campaign and help restore greenery damaged by recent fires.