KARACHI, Aug 7: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has scheduled a meeting for Aug 23 of all the agencies allotted state land in Karachi.

Speaking at a seminar, organized by the Pakistan Press Foundation here on Thursday, City Nazim Naimatullah Khan said that he had informed the president during his Thursday’s meeting that there were dozens of stake-holders of these lands in the metropolis but despite owning the lands, most of these agencies contributed nothing to the development activities.

The Nazim said that he had told the president that these agencies did not even contribute to the maintenance of the existing system.

Mr Khan pointed out that one of the stake-holders, Pakistan Railways, had been allotted land for circular railway in 1968. However, he added, after failing to operate it successfully, the PR stopped the service and sold out its prime land.

Similarly, the PECHS and other societies are still under the control of the federal government’s works and services department, decades after the capital was shifted from Karachi to Islamabad. Mutation and other matters of these societies are still handled by Islamabad.

City Nazim said that none of the six cantonment boards, including the Railways and KPT, contributed their services to the infrastructure provided by the city government.

“This is not only causing financial burden on the city government but also creating hindrance in preparing a master plan for the city.”

The Nazim highlighted the disparity between two systems and said that one could witness this by looking at the buildings raised in the jurisdictions of the city government and the agencies. Elaborating, he said that the buildings in the jurisdiction of city government were only three storey while those falling under Cantonment Board had eight-ten floors. None of the agencies, he regretted, was bothered to provide adequate infrastructure for such highrise buildings.

Regarding the city’s master plan, Mr Khan said that out of the five master plans prepared at a cost of millions of rupees, only one had been approved.

It may be recalled that the first master plan for Karachi was prepared after a dispute in 1921 over the transfer of Artillery Lines and Depot Lines lands from Cantonment Board to the KMC. Mr A. E. Mirams had to be called from Bombay to settle the dispute and he had submitted his master plan in 1923 under which 86 acres of cantonment land of Artillery Maidan was transferred to the KMC. Major uplift projects had been undertaken under the plan. The projects included development of the undeveloped KMC and KPT lands, partial development of Lyari area, development of Jail Quarters, Garden Quarters, Soldier Bazaar and Jamshed Road schemes.

The second master plan was prepared in 1946 by Lt-Col Swain Thomas, a cantonment officer who had to revise the plan in 1948. However, this plan could not be implemented due to the Partition.

The next master plans was prepared as Greater Karachi Plan in 1952 by a Swedish firm, Merz Rendal Vatten (MRV) that had envisaged creation of Karachi Development Authority (KDA) in 1957. This plan had many flaws and could not be implemented.

Yet another master plan was prepared during 1974-85 period with the financial and technical assistance of the UNDP. The high-level steering committee, authorized to approve the plan, however, ceased to exist soon after the plan was finalized.

Preparation of the latest master plan ‘Karachi Development Plan-2000’ had been started in 1986, again with the financial assistance of the UNDP. It had been finalized in 1991 at a total cost of Rs460 million but is yet to be approved as nearly 52 per cent of the city’s territory houses kutchi abadis having shabby infrastructure. — PPI