ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: Islamabad is seeing a development boom which is threatening its environment.

Many development schemes like 7th Avenue, underpasses and flyovers, hotels, a new international airport, housing schemes and the General Headquarters (GHQ) have been planned without considering their “severe” environmental impacts.

This conclusion was drawn in a meeting held here on Wednesday, prompting the Ministry of Environment to initiate the Islamabad Green City Programme (IGCP).

The caretaker minister for local government and rural development, Dr Syed Wajid Hussain Bukhari, decided on an uphill task to make country’s major cities environmentally clean and green, starting with Islamabad.

This, however, does not raise any hopes because the environment ministry, that has been a sore loser under successive leaderships, has slept over the problem of deteriorating environment of the federal capital.

The meeting observed that Islamabad was not meant to be what it is fast turning into - an ugly city.

Admired on one hand for its fusion of city life with nature, the capital’s beauty is unfortunately proving its worst enemy, attracting settlers like sugar attracts ants.

Designed to provide healthy climate, pollution-free atmosphere, plenty of water and lush green areas, Islamabad is no more isolated from the business and commercial activities.

No polluting industries were supposed to be located in the city but these have now been allowed.

Increase in economic activities and influx of people also attracted by its beauty have increased its population from 340,000 to 1.124 million in 25 years showing an over all increase of 230 per cent with average annual growth of six per cent.

Increase in population has given birth to high-rise buildings, residential apartments, housing schemes, educational institutions and industrial units, compelling the Capital Development Authority to alter Islamabad’s master plan and upgrade the physical structure, all at the cost of excessive environmental deterioration.

The meeting, which was briefed through a presentation, gave a perspective of the challenges to turn an urban ugly duckling into a swan.

Islamabad suffers the most at the hands of steel furnaces, steel melting, galvanising, marble cutting/grinding and other units that are causing excessive pollution.

Today, the industrial area houses eight steel furnaces, emitting one ton of particulate matter each day in violation of the CDA laws. The industrial area has no facility for wastewater treatment. Four cement plants located in Islamabad emit over 11,000 tons of particulate matter per year, shedding fine raw cement dust across several kilometres.

Some 90 brick kilns within and around Islamabad, spew out high concentration of black soot, poly-aromatic hydrocarbons and other gases. The gases are not only deteriorating air quality of the area and degrading soil but also causing visibility problem and hazards to aircraft navigation, the presentation said.

There are no landfills or incinerators to dispose of 600-700 tons of city’s solid waste per day, the meeting learnt. The capital was fast losing its small and large rainwater streams passing through residential sectors because of discharge of domestic waste and leakages in municipal sewers.

Several development schemes, public and private, are being implemented in Islamabad without taking their environmental impacts into consideration, including the new 7th Avenue, underpasses and the flyover projects.

The meeting was briefed that an estimated 90,000 vehicles, half of them diesel trucks, passing through Kashmir Highway daily add 377 tons of particulate matter in air each year.

The meeting learnt that future trends in development spelt environmental disaster. An international airport, seven hotels including on seven-star, more roads, over 40 large and small housing schemes and the General Headquarters (GHQ) would not only impact on natural resources but worsen the pollution load.

Nonetheless, the ministry’s plan, which includes consultation and participation of concerned departments, agencies, citizens, and industry, includes various initiatives to promote city development in conformity with world recognised principles of sustainable development to keep Islamabad’s air, water and soil clean.

The plan begins with signing the UN Green Cities Declaration and Urban Environmental Accords 2006.

Energy conservation, solid waste reduction and management, water conservation, scrutiny of urban design, air quality management, seasonal fumigation, maintenance of parks and gardens, tree plantation and increasing grass cover, awareness campaigns, environment friendly mass transit system, and environmental complaint cell are also included in the Islamabad Green City Programme (IGCP) proposal.