Islamabad: Security threats: CDA to construct new Diplomatic Enclave over 870 acres

[Naveed Yaseen]

ISLAMABAD: Capital Development Authority (CDA) will shortly initiate construction work on another Diplomatic Enclave in the city to accommodate embassies and foreign missions currently working in residential areas.

A senior CDA official said on Friday that 37 embassies and foreign missions were working in residential areas, which were vulnerable to security threats. He said the new enclave would be bigger than the existing one, as the CDA had allocated 870 acres for the new enclave. He said the existing Diplomatic Enclave was established on 764 acres.

Land acquisition: Planning of the project has been completed and is now in designing phase, the official said, adding, land allocated for construction of the enclave had been acquired. However, he said, the CDA was also making efforts to acquire land of a small village located near the site, as it may pose security threats.

The official said land of the project was being surveyed. He said construction work on the project would be launched after completion of its designing. He said the project would be approved finally under a revised master plan of the federal capital, the final draft of which had already been sent to the government for approval.

He said the authority had allotted 56 plots to different embassies. He said that 37 plots out of 56 were still lying vacant, though many embassies had constructed their buildings in Diplomatic Enclave.

Embassies in residential areas: The embassies and foreign missions, functioning in residential areas, include embassies of Algeria, Norway, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Syria, Hungary, Denmark, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Philippines, Belgium, Malaysia, Sudan, Oman, Libya, Brazil, Romania, Afghanistan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Holland, Korea, Portugal and Portugal (Chancery), British Council, Greece and visa office, Republic of Northern Cyprus, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Finland and Latvia, United national Development programme and United Nations organisation.

Once the work starts, it will take another three years for completion, the official said, adding, the new Diplomatic Enclave would be spacious enough to accommodate all the embassies and foreign missions working in residential areas.

He said the foreign missions in residential areas had been converted into “Enclosed Restricted Area” to ensure their security. At present, the official said, 795 houses were being used commercially in residential areas of the capital. He said that 325 houses out of 795 were being used as offices of different organisations, 87 as guesthouses, four as restaurants, 255 as schools and 124 for other businesses such as beauty parlours and clinics. app

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