KARACHI, Aug 17 President Asif Ali Zardari urged the provinces on Monday to strengthen the forest monitoring system, and tasked the Sindh government with identifying 1,000,000 acres of state land in Thatta district to develop an entirely new city.

He made the announcements in the Bilawal House at a certificate distribution ceremony held for the planters who on July 15 set a world record of planting more than 541,000 saplings in a day at Keti Bandar in Thatta. The achievement got an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

President Zardari called for strengthening the forest monitoring system to stop illegal felling of trees, introduction of new technologies and private partnership, besides announcing strategic targets to be achieved to cover Pakistan with trees.

Briefing the media on the event, Federal Minister of State for Information Syed Samsam Bokhari said the president said that import of timber would also be considered to save our forests from being denuded by the timber mafia.

Earlier, President's spokesman Farhatullah Babar quoted the president as saying “It is the responsibility of the provincial governments to review the existing forest monitoring systems and strengthen it to stop the plunder of our forest wealth”.

Forestry is a provincial subject and the provinces must take a lead in this regard, the president said.

National tree plantation day

Mr Zardari also declared Aug 18 as the National Tree Plantation Day and called upon the nation to take part in the campaign.

The president announced a tree plantation target of over 43 million saplings during the Monsoon Tree Planting Campaign 2009.

Besides, the forest cover is to be increased from five per cent to six per cent by 2015 and a mass awareness campaign would be launched as part of the proposed tree planting campaign.

Representatives of the 300 planters who earned for Pakistan a place in the Guinness Book of World Records attended the ceremony, also attended by the Sindh chief minister, Federal Environment Minister Hameedullah Jan Afridi, some federal and provincial ministers and senior officials.

Mr Zardari urged all stakeholders, including farmers, local communities, forest owners and right-holders, civil society organisations, the private sector and students to participate in the national effort to improve the environment.

In a separate meeting on the concept of the new city project in Sindh, according to the state minister for information, the president tasked the Sindh government to identify about one million acres of barren and non-useable state land in Thatta district that could be used for building a new city.

Zulfikarabad or Jherruk?

The state minister said the new city would be called Zulfikarabad, but Farhatullah Babar in a separate media release did not mention the name of the proposed city.

In his previous visits here, President Zardari had called for undertaking a feasibility of Jherruk City to be built in Thatta district. It was not clear that there will be two different projects or the Jherruk City has now been renamed as Zulfikarabad.

Farhatullah Babar nevertheless claimed the new city would serve as a catalyst for change through social uplift, economic development and infrastructural upgrade.

The meeting was attended by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, federal and provincial ministers and bureaucrats besides architects from the private sector.

Despite concerns that the new city would further isolate and marginalise the Sindhis in their own province as it would attract more influx of population, Farhatullah Babar said the new city project was visualised by the president sometime back as the influx of national and international migrants in Karachi and Hyderabad had put tremendous pressure on the existing infrastructure in the urban centres that called for giving serious thought to building a new city.

The president remarked that Islamabad, built in 1960, was the only new city built in the country, and another city planned on modern lines was needed.

About the location of the new city, he said two factors, proximity to the coast, and unproductivity of the land, be kept in mind. The concept is based on the philosophy of converting useless state land into a goldmine, Farhatullah Babar quoted the president as telling the meeting.

He said the building of a new city would generate employment, promote industrial growth and also attract international investors besides easing pressure on the existing mega cities.

He said that some people thought that the area near Jhimpir and Jherruk in Thatta district offered a suitable location for the new city, but it was for the provincial government to determine a suitable location.

The president directed that the land identification be completed within weeks so that he could take the proposal to Chinese investors during his next visit to China.

A presentation on development projects in Lyari was also given in the meeting, he said.