PM Imran says new master plans will check illegal expansion of cities

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that the government is working on a new master plan to prohibit the illegal and unapproved expansion of cities across the country.

“Our cities are under stress. They are expanding and encroaching upon green areas. Even the Margalla Hill National Park in Islamabad has been encroached upon,” the premier said while addressing a signing ceremony of an agreement between the Ministry of Climate Change and the World Bank.

He said that the way our cities are expanding, it would become administratively impossible to keep air and [potable] water clean.

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“All our streams, canals, and rivers have been polluted with sewerage water,” he said, adding that even more cities will face Lahore-like smog if concrete measures were not taken to control the population.

“Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, but we are not responsible for it, as our carbon emissions are less than one percent,” he said.

Highlighting the initiatives taken by the present government against climate change, the prime minister said that his government had launched the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami programme, and declared 15 new national parks, which will be monitored with the help of technology and satellite images.

The premier said that it was important for the nation to avert climate change for “our future generations.”