KARACHI: New master plan to be ready in few months
KARACHI, May 17: The preparation of Karachi Master Plan-2020 has entered last stages and is likely to be finalized within next few months.
In this connection, 12 technical committees have been constituted under the chairmanship of heads of line agencies / group of offices on all sectors. Services of experts, engineers and technocrats from various fields have been taken, a City District Government Karachi official told stakeholders at a briefing at CDGK Seminar Hall here on Wednesday.
KESC CEO Frank Scherschmidt, DIGP Traffic Falak Khurshid, Port Qasim Authority chairman and heads and representatives of cantonment boards and other civic institutions (stakeholders) attended the briefing.
EDO Master Plan Iftikhar Qaimkhani, giving details about the master plan, said City Nazim Mustafa Kamal had desired that Karachi Master Plan for 2020 should be comprehensive from every aspect and all underground and over the ground subjects would be encompassed. He, therefore, called upon stakeholders to cooperate in these efforts.
He told the briefing that the master plan was about to be completed within next few months and it was expected that it would be the first such plan that had legal cover. The master plans, prepared in the past, were confined only to books, but now the city council is authorized to approve the plan under SLGO 2001, and, therefore, it would have legal safeguards, he added.
He stated that five master plans for Karachi had been prepared. A E Miram prepared “Report on Development of Karachi” in 1923; Lt-Col Swaine Thomas made “Karachi Physical Plan” in 1945; consultants of a Swedish firm prepared “MRV Plan” in 1949; defunct KDA with financial assistance of UNDP devised “Karachi Development Plan 1974-85” in 1974; again in 1991, the defunct KDA, with financial and technical assistance of the UNDP and UNCHS had prepared “Karachi Development Plan 2000”.
The Karachi Development Plan 2000 lost its validity at end of year 2000. Although this plan had provided a complete framework for growth of the metropolis up to 2000, it had neither been accorded official approval nor institutional arrangements necessary for its implementation had been put in place.
Political vicissitudes also restricted possibility of its implementation. As a result, its recommendations were continuously violated with impunity. During this period, illegal construction activity sprouted all over the city and squatter settlements formed and consolidated along major arterial roads and expressways.
Rampant commercialization, declining industrial development, slump in housing industry, increasing densification in downtown areas, rising pressure on already deficient infrastructure, shrinking employment opportunities, agonizing transport system, growing shortage of health and education facilities all combine to create an urgent need for preparation of a new master plan for spatial development of the megapolis.
The project for formulation of Master Plan-2020 is being undertaken by the CDGK as one of the components of Tameeer-i-Karachi Programme (TKP) package. Its objectives are to strengthen urban planning process; provide sufficient and affordable serviced land to cater to housing needs of all income groups with greater emphasis on low-income housing; planned alternatives to Katchi Abadis; adequate supply of potable water; provide modern garbage collection and disposal facilities; provide adequate educational, health, recreational and transport facilities; and industrial areas growth.—APP
