MITHI: Prominent economist Dr Kaiser Bengali has stressed the need for carrying out comprehensive city planning of Islamkot, “which will soon be counted among top five urban centres of Sindh alongside Hyderabad and Sukkur where international trade will take place.

“It is, therefore, necessary to carry out all-encompassing city planning of the ‘neem-tree town’ with futuristic approach so that the emerging needs for its expansion can be met,” said Dr Bengali.

He was speaking at a meeting of intellectuals, me­m­bers of civil society, traders and community members of the town organised by the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) on Friday night.

The meeting was convened by the company, which was engaged in coal mining at Thar coal block-II, to discuss future needs for urban planning for the town for the next five decades.

Dr Bengali highlighted the importance of trees and emphasised that trees should never be cut down for the sake of widening roads and urged the residents to play an active role in pushing for policies aimed at future expansion of the town.

He said city planning should consider potential civic needs for the next 50 years so that the town should emerge not only as a big city but also as a beautiful megapolis which could attract tourists from across the globe.

He said in answer to a question that it was high time that a comprehensive baseline survey of the town was carried out to record all types of data required for future planning.

“For this”, he said, “civil society should collaborate with line government departments to work out a strategy to make things happen.”

Naseer Memon, general manager of the company’s corporate social responsibility department said that the scope of consultation for town planning be widened to include all segments of society so that natives could have ownership of future businesses and trades which would take form after external investment in Islamkot.

Islamkot assistant commissioner Nooruddin Hingorjo said that a clear-cut policy should be devised to tackle issues of land-grabbing activity that would eventually take place in the town.

Former town nazim Ghansham Lohano said the town was already facing the menace of land-grabbing which must be curbed at the earliest and natives be provided more facilities so that they were encouraged to contribute equally to the development of their town.

Islamkot town chairman Kamlesh Lohano was of the view that Sindh government must take effective steps for the town’s development.

Fayaz Ali Soomro, Mohsin Babbar, Faqeer Munawwar Sagar, Aamir Raz, Kailah Lohano, Qazafi Samejo, Irfan Junejo and other participants also spoke at the meeting.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2017