KARACHI, May 26: It seems that the commercialisation of roads policy of the city government presented on April 22 in the city council will meet the same fate as that of the commercialisation policies in the past, when everything was done on adhoc basis without considering long-term impacts.
The 23-member committee of the city council to discuss the policy has met only once and no progress has been reported.
According to one member, the committee are divided among themselves with some supporting the policy, some completely opposing it and the rest calling for a public hearing over the issue.
The master plan department of the city government presented a commercialisation policy to city council for approval, seeking permission to commercialise six major roads.
These roads are Sharae Faisal (from Metropole to Malir bridge), Tariq Road up to Bahadurabad commercial area, Rashid Minhas Road scheme 16 and scheme 36, University Road schemes 24 and 36, Sharae Pakistan Teenhatti bridge to scheme 16, Nazimabad A road, left side to the main road towards Paposh Nagar and extension up to Lasbela bridge on the left side.
The first scheme for commercialisation of residential plots at the main Drigh Road (Shahrah-i-Faisal) from Aisha Bawany School up to the Malir bridge was allowed vide Sindh Government Gazette dated April 13, 1978. After the Karachi Building Town Planning and Regulations were framed in 1979, the governing body of the KDA allowed commercialization of residential plots in this area.
The then provincial minister for housing and town planning held a meeting in 1989 wherein the above policy was also adopted. The commercialization of residential plots on the six major roads was again allowed by the KDA’s governing body vide its resolution 215 dated 28-11-1990.
Political governments allowed commercialization indiscriminately in all areas with permission for additional floors in plazas and high-rise buildings.
This was followed by violation of rules and regulations by builders. As a result the government imposed a complete ban on commercialization in February 1998. However, the government had to bow before the pressure created by urban growth; on 2-7-1998 it allowed commercialisation of residential plots on the six major roads. The KBCA continued commercialisation till 24-11-1999. The governing body of the KDA in a decision taken in June that year adopted some guidelines for commercialisation.
A meeting of the governing body held on 24-11-1999 decided that all cases of commercialization were to be put in abeyance till a commercialisation policy was formulated.
The master plan department subsequently made several studies/surveys on different aspects of commercialisation which were presented before the governing body from time to time, between 2-05-2000 and 15-2-2001.
The governing body failed to take any decision on the proposals made by the master plan department. On August 14 2001 the KDA ceased to exist as an autonomous body and was made a part of city government.—PPI
