| ISLAMABAD-The much-needed revision of Islamabad’s master plan is on halt since May 2022 as the federal government has yet to approve the re-composition of the Islamabad Master Plan Review Commission.
Earlier, a commission was formed in line with the directions of the Islamabad High Court in 2019, however, it has become dysfunctional after change of government last year.
According to sources, only two members participated in the last meeting of said commission, which was held in May 2022 —forcing city managers to request the federal government for re-composition of this commission. The CDA after internal deliberations in December 2022 had moved a summary to the interior ministry for onward submission to the federal cabinet for approval of names of commission members to perform revision of the master plan.
However, the same summary could not be placed before the federal cabinet, which shows that the incumbent government, like its predecessor PTI government, has no interest in the revision of the Master Plan.
The summary contained 20 names including people having expertise in the field of town planning, architecture, engineering, environment and academia were recommended to be included into the federal commission to review the Master Plan.
Created in 1960 under a well-documented master plan, the federal capital has been constantly facing changes to its master plan without any input from professional consultants.
Most of the changes were made just to accommodate powerful circles to protect or give furtherance to their interest but the issues of common citizens and wellbeing of Islamabad were never addressed.
The Islamabad High Court in 2018 ordered the civic authority to constitute a commission having professional people to formulate recommendations for review of the existing Master Plan.
Federal government in return for the aforementioned decision constituted a commission to review the Master Plan in 2019 and made the Chairman CDA its convener.
However, the city managers instead of focusing upon the entire revision of the master plan in one go preferred to get ‘desired agenda’ approved from the federal government and remained successful.
The building regulations were revised mainly to cover up the illegal constructions already carried out by few housing societies while modalities and procedures for development of private housing schemes were also revised.
It was then decided that the overall revision as per the spirit of court order will be carried out through engaging a private consultant for which a detailed RFP document was prepared by CDA and flouted an advertisement in this regard as well.
However, all the four firms participating to get the job of the revision of master plan could not get clearance in technical evaluation so the move could not succeed further. To end the bottlenecks to engage a reputed consultant, the commission suggested to revise the RFP document and relax some clauses to get a consultant onboard. Resultantly, the same were drafted and given to the members in June 2022 for their input but no response was received from them as they were included into the commission by the outgoing government.
A senior officer informed that when the federal government was changed last year initially few members quit while rest have become non-responsive and since then the working is halted.
It is relevant to note here that Doxiadis Associates, a Greece-based firm, that had prepared the master plan, recommended its revision after every 20 years but besides passing half century, not even a single comprehensive revision could be made.
In absence of a revised master plan, mushroom growth of illegal settlements, scarcity of water, shrinking housing facilities and many other odds popped up. |
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