ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Interior has notified a 12-member commission to carry out the first-ever revision of Islamabad’s master plan.

According to a notification dated Dec 28, the commission will be headed by the chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Committee, who will act as a convenor of the commission until such time that an individual from the private sector is appointed chairman.

Other members include Pakistan Institute for Environmental Development Action Research Islamabad Executive Syed Ayub Qutub,United Nations Settlement Programme Habitat Programme Manager Jawed Ali Khan, former CDA member planning and design Asad Mehboob Kayani, the incumbent member planning, the director general of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency, the director general of the Rawalpindi Development Authority, the physical planning chief of the Planning Commission, Islamabad’s chief metropolitan officer, the CDA’s master plan director, and a renowned architect and a town planner to be nominated by the Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners.

The notification also carried the name of Dr Ghulam Abbas Anjum, the former dean of faculty of architecture and planning at the University of Engineering and Technology, who died a few days ago. When the cabinet decided on the commission members, Dr Anjum was still alive.

12-member team will be led by CDA chairman, must conclude its work within six months

The commission will revise the city’s master plan for the next 20 years and recommend the possible regularisation of construction that violates the 1960 CDA Ordinance, the master plan, the 1992 Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Zoning Regulations, the 2005 Islamabad Building Regulations and other regulations made under the CDA Ordinance.

According to its terms of reference (ToR), the commission “shall keep in view the increased private sector participation on health and education sectors to make recommendations”.

It will also make proposals for short-term, medium-term and long-term development, and can amend its ToRs with approval from the federal government. The commission is to conclude its work within six months.

Doxiadis Associates, the firm that developed the capital’s master plan in 1960, had recommended revising the plan every 20 years. The failure of successive governments to do so has resulted in unauthorised construction at massive scale, as well as poor planning. Today thousands of unauthorised houses have been built in zones III and IV, where construction was prohibited.

The periodic changes previous governments did make to the master plan mainly served to benefit some individuals, while comprehensive revisions were not carried out.

The last change to the master plan came under former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s cabinet last May, which allowed private housing societies to operate in Zone IV sub-zone B, allegedly to give legal cover to societies that had already been developed there.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2019