The development work of Jallo Forest Park was completed by the Punjab Forestry, Wildlife & Fisheries Department.
An official of the Forest department informed this scribe that the project was initiated in July 2016 and its first PC-1 was approved at a cost of Rs302.896 million. However, it was revised four times and ended up costing Rs280.838 million.
“Jallo Forest Park is situated 20km east of Lahore along Wagha-Amritsar Railway Line and ½ km from Lahore Canal Branch on its left side. These area 837 acres was a reserve forest since 1922 and was being managed for production of timber/fuel wood and for conducting forestry research. Out of 837 acres, the Park was established over 456 acres under various development schemes since 1978,” the official said.
Explaining about the total area of forests in Punjab he said, “Punjab is starched with an area of 50.96 million acres and meagre forestry resources over only 1.66 million acres in the public sector.
The resources managed by the Forest Department include compact plantations of coniferous forests (144,120 acres), scrub forests (676,336 acres), rangelands (203,321 acres), irrigated plantations (424,776 acres), riverain forests (175,702 acres) and deserts (38,238 acres). Moreover, we also manage the linear plantations of the province i.e. canal-side plantations (33,795.37 km), roadside plantations (10,665.15 km) and rail side plantations (2,580.50 km).
In addition to the public sector forestry resources, tree covers exist in farmlands both in the form of woodlots and linear avenues along the field boundaries and watercourses”.
The official further informed that the project was proposed to conserve natural resources and provide recreational facilities to the public by renovating the existing facilities in the park to introduce new interventions and enhance biodiversity.
The official also said that the project had more than 85 tasks including the development of new grass on an area of 35 acres, mass afforestation on 50 acres, landscaping, planting including rockeries, development of new flowering beds, rehabilitation of existing forest lawn, boundary brick wall with razor-sharp loop wire, the establishment of sheds for B.B.Q, construction of a ticketing office and others.
“The gestation period of the project was 48 months but it was completed before time i.e. December 31, 2019. Jallo Park has all kinds of facilities now and will attract the public in large numbers.
Parks, zoos and safaris provide a diversity of outdoor recreation opportunities to the general public, connecting them with nature in an unmatched variety of themes and activities,” he concluded.
