ISLAMABAD: Designed as a planned city, negligence on the part of the civic administration has given the capital a much more haphazard appearance, particularly due to the proliferation of illegal and legal housing societies.

There are more than 150 housing societies operating in the capital. Most of them lack playgrounds, schools, mosques, parks and graveyards, as the land for amenities has been misused by their operators.

Only around two dozen housing societies in Islamabad hold no-objection certificates (NOC) from the Capital Development Authority (CDA). The others have had their layout plans approved by the authority but have not been issued NOCs, and some housing societies have not sought either.

However, housing society operators have still sold land to the public, who in turn have been greatly inconvenienced by the ban on utility connections for construction without NOCs from the CDA.

Mohammad Faiz, who bought a house in Ghauri Town – one of the capital’s largest illegal housing societies with more than 10,000 homes, is one such example. He said he is currently running from pillar to post to secure a gas connection.

“What is my fault? I purchased a house in Ghauri Town after completing all formalities, such as the registry and transfer deed. If this housing scheme was illegal, why was the transfer of the house allowed,” he asked, adding that the CDA and the housing society operators were equally responsible for putting citizens’ investment at stake.

Some societies, which have had their layout plans initially approved by the CDA, have used that approval to sell land. While selling the land, they have gone on to violate the terms and conditions of the layout plan.

The CDA has cancelled the layout plans of many such societies after a considerable delay, and by then they had already sold their plots and the buyers are the ones facing difficulty.

“When I purchased the plot, the society had an approved layout plan from the CDA. But last month, all of a sudden, the CDA withdrew Jinnah Garden’s layout plan. What is my fault? Where do I go now,” asked Amir Khan, who bought land in the Jinnah Gardens housing society a couple of years ago.

According to CDA officials, the city’s original master plan had no provision for private housing societies and the civic authority was solely responsible for developing residential sectors. Private housing societies were permitted for the first time in 1992 in zones II and V, and in E-11.

The official said that while granting permission for the aforementioned areas the government had directed the CDA to follow the standard sectoral pattern in Zone II, which is spread across 9,804.9 acres, for housing schemes.

The official explained that the CDA was supposed to regulate Zone II like Zone I, which is the planned urban area of the city that contains sectors such as G-6, G-7, G-8, F-6, F-7 and so on.

However, the official said, the CDA began approving layouts and NOCs for housing societies while giving the planning pattern no attention. Today, the area lacks basic civic facilities such as hospitals, community halls and major roads.

For E-11, which was already a sector, it was obvious that the CDA should follow the Zone I by-laws, officials said. But no attention was given to this area either. In Zone V, the CDA was to prepare a broad outline development plan, in the context of which schemes would be considered.

The CDA was also supposed to control the sprawl of old construction in this area, but officials said no plan was prepared or implemented for Zone V. This zone consists of approximately 39,029.5 acres.

They said the negligence has resulted in planned slums, where people face challenges every day.

The dust of these blunders has not settled, the officials said.

Back in 2010, when the federal government also permitted private housing societies in the 69,814.4 acre Zone IV, the CDA did not make proper plans.

The CDA, which approves housing societies spread over a minimum of 400 kanals has also failed to prepare a strategy for the subdivision of land and check on settlements that consist of 50 or 100 kanals.

This lack of attention has led to small colonies in areas such Bhara Kahu, Farash Town, Taramri, Tarlai etc, where houses are built in streets so small that vehicles cannot even enter, they said.

In case of emergencies, fire brigade vehicles cannot reach these unregulated small areas, and ambulances cannot pick up patients, a CDA official said.

While the CDA’s jurisdiction to approve housing schemes has expanded to include zones II and IV and V, as well as E-11, its directorate of housing schemes is understaffed. It has one director, two additional charge-holding town planners and a patwari to deal with schemes spread across the city.

Six sanctioned posts for town planners, a post for a tehsildar, a gardawar and a patwari have been vacant.

“In these circumstances I would say we are just passing time. There are strong reasons to believe that if prompt measures are not taken, in the coming times Islamabad will be known for its unplanned slum-like construction,’ said an official who asked not to be named.

Newly-appointed Director Housing Societies Ijaz Ahmed Sheikh said he has been taking measures to improve the functioning of the directorate.

“We are going to regulate building plans of all housing societies, and we are not approving new layout plans without fulfilling the set criteria,” he said.

When asked why the CDA did not take action when societies sold land in unapproved schemes, he said: “I took charge recently, so I cannot comment on the past episode.”

When asked about the damage control, since thousands of people have invested in private unauthorised schemes, he said: “The CDA could take steps to resolve this phenomena, but for this it has to take strict action.”

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2018