A commission led by a civil servant will be appointed within six months.
Islamabad’s master plan is being revised for the first time in its 58-year history. The task would be given to an independent commission, it is decided.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s orders for the first ever revision of the capital’s master plan poured in during his meeting with the Capital Development Authority (CDA).
The commission would be formed within next three to six months, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi said. A civil servant would head the commission.
The requirements of the city’s population have multiplied over the years specifically with regard to education, health, the environment, infrastructure, and water.
A document which will be prepared is conceived to be looking at the requirements of Islamabad with 2 million people.
Islamabad’s master plan was prepared by the Greek firm Doxiadis in 1960, which also suggested revising the plan every 20 years.
Successive governments, however, did not make any serious attempt to revise the plan, resulting in a lack of civic planning and haphazard construction.
The CDA has also failed to implement its by-laws beyond the capital’s urban areas, leaving Islamabad`s 32 rural union councils unattended.
These rural areas are now dotted with unauthorized commercial and residential buildings particularly zone III, where the existing master plan does not allow construction.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s private residence in Banigala is also unauthorized. Under orders from the Supreme Court, the CDA is now moving ahead with fining such construction, including Khan’s home, and then regularizing them following the proper procedure.
