ISLAMABAD: It has been four months since the Capital Development Authority (CDA) board decided to hire a consultant for the much-needed first revision of Islamabad’s master plan.

But so far there has been no progress on the move as the civic agency is looking towards the federal government to form a commission which is a prerequisite for appointing a consultant.

Officials in the civic agency attributed the delay to the change of government, uncertain future of CADD (now defunct) and transfer of two chairmen of the CDA during the last three months besides the retirement of the member planning.

The Greek firm, Doxiadis, which prepared the master plan in 1960, had suggested its revision after every 20 years. But the civic agency could not revise it except making a few “selected” changes at the whim of successive governments.

Since May, CDA has been waiting for formation of a commission by federal govt

Revisions should have been made to cope with the changed physical and socio-economic conditions and emerging needs.

The delay in the revision of the master plan has resulted into lack of civic planning and haphazard constructions.

The DA board in May decided to start the process of revising the master plan by hiring a consultant.

According to a ruling of the Islamabad High Court, CADD was supposed to form a commission of experts to recommend changes to the master plan and the consultant was to implement the recommendations.

The CDA had written to CADD in July but the ministry, now defunct, failed to form the commission, said the officials.

The CDA has completed its homework for hiring the consultant and prepared the term of reference (ToR) but it could not move forward until it receives recommendations from the commission.

“The changes of the government and our two chairmen, retirement of the regular member planning in July and the uncertain status of CADD contributed to the delay in the formation of the commission,” said an official of the CDA.

Now when CADD has been abolished and the CDA put under the administrative control of the interior ministry, there are chances that the ministry will take up the matter on a priority basis.

“As soon as we receive the recommendations, we will start the process for hiring the consultant,” the official said.

He said as per ToR, after receiving recommendations of the commission the consultant would take at least a year to review the master plan for year 2020-40.

During this one year, public hearings will be conducted to get the viewpoints of citizens against each recommendation. The consent of environmentalist will also be taken.

In the past, successive governments did not carry out a comprehensive revision of the master plan as proposed by the Greek firm.

From time to time, they made selected changes such as permitting housing schemes in Zone IV apparently to benefit those who owned vast chucks of land there.

The official said the civic agency started the process of revision of the master plan in 1986 and 2005 but could not get endorsement of the federal government.

The Islamabad Capital Territory Zoning Regulation was promulgated in 1992 under which the capital was divided into five zones with the approval of the federal government.

And later, further amendments were made in 2010 while a number of changes were also introduced. Recently, another amendment to the master plan was made by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s cabinet during its last month in power in May 2018, allowing construction of housing schemes in sub-zone C of Zone IV.

In the past only government-run housing society could operate in this sub-zone but there were a large number of illegal private housing societies which could not be legalised until a change was made to the master plan.

According to CDA officials, through the selected revisions in the past the successive governments made changes to the master plan without proposing alternatives.

They said if an industrial sector was converted into a residential one, the government should have proposed a new industrial sector as an alternative but they did not.

They said according to the master plan the entire I-8 was to serve as a centre for transport services but it was turned into a residential sector in 1990 without reserving any space for the transport sector and the city is still facing lack of proper transport terminals.

E-11 was meant for a proper residential sector but through changes it was turned into a private and government housing area. F-9 was also a residential sector but it was made a park.

Besides other changes, the successive governments also changed the status of the industrial sector of 1-15 and 1-12 from industrial to residential one.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2018