The City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) along with the Government of the Punjab and the Traffic Engineering & Planning Agency (TEPA) have made public their plan to widen the Lahore Canal Road from Dharampura to Thokar Niaz Beg. The public have been informed that the Canal Road needs to be widened in order to facilitate the mushroom growth of automobile use in the past few years. However, this is not where the debate on the need for the widening of the road should begin, let alone end. There are many more considerations which should be taken into account.

According to the official position reported in the press, the Canal Road is to be widened by the CDGL following a design prepared by the TEPA and with funds from the Government of the Punjab. It proposes the felling of at least 1873 trees lining both sides of the green belt of the Canal in order to extend the road some 18 feet and add two lanes to either side. The CDGL has also announced its intention to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project as well as its intention to have the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) of the Government of the Punjab conduct a public hearing to review the EIA before finally deciding whether or not to grant it a no-objection certificate.

Even in these terms, which follow the bare requirements of the law (in this case, the provisions of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 (PEPA) and its Rules and Regulations), there are several issues which need to be addressed. For instance, under Regulations framed under the PEPA, no review of an EIA can be conducted without consultation from a Committee of Experts constituted by the EPD. No such Committee of Experts exists, and so it cannot be said that the review of the Canal Road widening proposal will have the benefit of expert advice. Also the fact that the trees on the Canal now wear red “X” marks – a mark usually reserved for informers, Jews, homosexuals and, in Medieval Europe, people infected with The Plague – is an indication that the government’s mind is as made up as it is prejudiced: It is going to proceed with this project; the legal requirements of the EIA review are merely eyewash. Indeed, one recent half-page advertisement placed in a national newspaper by the Forestry and Environmental Protection Department exhort citizens not to plant eucalyptus trees – the species which most conspicuously line the Canal Road – for this Monsoon’s tree planting campaign on the grounds that “[they] generate heat and [cause] fires.” Never in my life have I seen a tree on the Canal Road catch or be on fire, and never since the Roman Emperor Justinian’s ban on homosexuality (on the grounds that it caused earthquakes) has such a ridiculous proposition been put forward. These are dark days for the eucalyptus.

One point usually missed when discussing the legal requirements for the grant of an NOC in such matters is the requirement of public participation. The PEPA requires that all EIAs for projects likely to cause an adverse environmental effect must be placed before the general public for their comments and opinion. An elaborate procedure must even be followed. However, the point of this requirement has been lost on minds too focused on fulfilling merely the procedural requirements of the law. The environmental law of Pakistan gives every citizen the legal right to participate in the decision making process of government. No other statute allows for such direct public participation, and one of the underlying philosophies of this legislation is that it does away with the arbitrary power of one man to change the face of a city at his whim. Sadly, it is too often the case that commercial interests involved in the grant of infrastructure projects are given environmental NOCs for reasons of political expediency rather than on merit. The quicker the authorities understand the true meaning of this revolutionary law, the better the environment in Pakistan will be.

The Canal Road widening project needs also to be examined within the larger backdrop of town planning and urban development. The estimated reduction in travel time between Dharampura and Thokar Niaz Beg on account of an additional lane (calculated on the basis that travel speed will increase from a current average of 45km/h to approximately 75 km/h) is no more than 7 minutes. Keeping the estimated cost of the project in mind, this comes to about Rs. 100 million for every minute saved. Surely the famously laid back and ever easy going people of Lahore do not need this exorbitant luxury, leave alone the expense of fatal accidents between fast moving traffic and children playing in Pakistan’s largest public swimming pool. Also, when one takes into consideration that there are four alternate routes to the Lahore Motorway on the North side of the Canal (Ravi and Saggian bridges, Chowk Yateem Khana and Multan Road), it would seem more expedient to develop these, especially because the traffic congestion issue in North Lahore is far more dire than in relatively less densely populated South Lahore. In fact, one of the more terrifying aspects of the Canal Road widening project (there are plenty), is the clear division a highway through the center of the city would represent: Poor, old and congested Lahore crammed to the North, and a rich green and well spread Lahore connected by multiple-lane expressways in the South.

One point which should give the proponents of this project a moment of reflection is the fact that the proposed four lane Canal Road will forever be bottle-necked every time high-density four lane traffic tries to cram into three lane underpasses. As anyone in traffic management will tell you, the speed of traffic does not depend on the width of a road; it depends on that road’s narrowest point. Any fully thought out road widening project should also consider (heaven forbid) widening the 6 three-lane underpasses running along the Canal.

Other points to consider: An increase in traffic density and speed will result in greater fuel consumption and, therefore, greater carbon and other toxic emissions along with dust and other solid particle matter polluting the atmosphere. The widening of the Canal will have an irreversibly detrimental effect on the pollution in Lahore. Also, the felling of the trees will remove a valuable sound buffer between the Canal Road and the many residential localities which line the Canal. The sudden removal of over 1,000 eucalyptus trees will also dramatically increase the underground water levels which have found balance with the water of the Canal and give sustenance to the natural habitat of countless birds, animals, flora and fauna. The seepage water of the Canal, now without the protective barrier of tree roots, will pose a danger to ground stability. And all this over and above the fact that the road widening will destroy some 60 acres of public park land which has provided the citizens of Lahore with recreation, beauty and a sense of identity. Indeed, in attempting to execute this project, the government can’t see the forest from the trees.


On an emotional level, Lahore is extremely close to being a city which exists only in memory. All too often one finds themselves reminiscing about long drives down the Canal, or walks in and around leafy neighborhoods. We sometimes forget that cities also consist of our collective memories, and if evidence of these memories is taken away, the city loses its character. To deprive the citizens of Lahore with one of the things that makes them Lahori is to murder the city of Lahore. The cost of widening the Canal may be something too expensive for any government to bear. One is reminded of an anecdote of when Queen Anne asked Prime Minister Robert Walpole how much it would be to include a portion of London’s Green Park into Buckingham Palace. He is reported to have told her it would cost “A Monarchy, Madam. A Monarchy.”

Contrary to some perceptions, the darakht bachao campaign is not just about saving the trees which line the Canal. The Canal Road widening project underscores some of the urban planning problems faced by the city of Lahore. These include traffic management, infrastructure development, housing shortages, long commutes between residential and commercial areas, a dearth of recreational facilities as well as the ephemeral “spirit” of Lahore. The darakht bachao campaign is also a campaign to save Lahore from becoming another, foreign, city. A successful campaign will mean not only victory for environmentalists everywhere, it will also be a chance for the government to better understand its role as urban developer in today’s urbanized world.