Revised Islamabad Master Plan

[LahoreEstate]

Delay in approval hampers development of new sectors

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Noor Aftab

Islamabad

Delay in approval of revised Master Plan of Islamabad is causing problems in various areas, including development of new residential sectors, which are necessary to cope with ever-increasing shortage of housing units in the metropolis.

Sources told ‘The News’ that a proposal had been made in the revised Master Plan to increase the total number of residential sectors from 56 to 68 for ensuring thousands of additional housing units in the city. They said it had also been proposed to increase the number of series of sectors from 16 to 18 by extending the limits of Islamabad to the areas adjacent to the motorway.

Currently, the capital city has around 85,000 housing units in the developed residential areas, showing shortage of over 50,000 housing units. The development of new residential sectors could help meet the demand for housing units but delay in approval of the revised Master Plan might further worsen the situation.

A UK-based firm, Mott McDonald Pakistan (MMP), was assigned the task some years back to revise the original Master Plan of Islamabad, covering current and future development needs of the city and various other aspects including new housing sectors, extension in municipal limits, industrial activities, environmental protection, road repair, new parks and recreational areas and safety of existing water reservoirs.

The consultant company submitted the draft of the revised Master Plan to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) prepared in line with the directives given by a four-member ministerial committee constituted by the prime minister for this purpose. But since then no sign has so far been appeared to show that the Master Plan would be implemented soon.

According to a CDA official, the master plans of cities in modern world are revised after every 25 years but it is astonishing that the Master Plan of Islamabad is being revised on full-scale for the first time since the establishment of the city in 1960s.

The sources said the government officials were more interested to make minor changes in the Master Plan than its full-scale revision that made it difficult for the concerned authorities to meet the growing demands in various areas.

The first change in the Master Plan was made in 1964 when the location of Islamabad University — later renamed as Quaid-i-Azam University — was shifted from the National Park Area to its current location.

The Sector E-11 was to be acquired and developed for low-income private and government employees, but in 1964, the CDA was stopped from acquiring the area in consideration of the location of Golra Sharif shrine.

In 1969, the rural periphery of Islamabad along Kahuta Road was turned into an Industrial Triangle for medium scale industries. The location of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) was also changed in 1974 from the area close to the National Institute of Health (NIH) near Chak Shahzad to its present location in Sector G-8/3.

Originally, half the H-series sectors were designated as green buffer and the other half for special institutions. But, in 1974, upper half of H-8 was given to different institutions for constructing their buildings, and H-10 and H-12 were selected for private educational institutes.

The CDA deputy director general (planning wing) told ‘The News’ that the draft of the revised Master Plan had been completed sometime back and they were preparing to give a presentation to the secretary Cabinet. He said the presentation would hopefully be conducted in the first week of the next month.

He said after the presentation the draft would be presented before the Cabinet for its detailed analysis before its final approval. “As the Master Plan has not been revised for the last so many decades, its revised version has been prepared in such a way that will certainly help meet the growing requirements and demands in various areas.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=179573