ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said that his vision for future cities was to allow buildings to rise vertically and ensure more green areas as Pakistan was one of the most environmentally threatened countries.

In a tweet posted on Saturday, the premier announced that he would avoid large sprawling built-up areas and would also allow the easier provision of amenities to urban dwellers.

It is worth mentioning that on February 28, the federal cabinet had approved the prime minister’s initiative of permitting construction of high-rise buildings in the federal capital.

“The prime minister said that emphasis on vertical structure was the need of the hour in view of the increased population and fast depleting green belts, especially in ma­­jor cities of the country,” said an official handout issued after the cabinet meeting.

Earlier, Mr Khan while pre­siding over a meeting had directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to encourage construction of high-rise buildings in the capital city.

Prior to this development, the CDA used to encourage horizontal construction as the maximum height allowed for a building in the capital is 420ft, such as for the construction of a luxury hotel as part of the Centaurus building complex.

However, after the prime minister’s recent directive, the CDA held a meeting with CAA and both agencies agreed to okay high-rise buildings in the eight kilometres of Blue Area from D-Chowk to F-10 Markaz.

According to an official of CDA, who is not authorised to speak on the record, the civic body is in favour of 1,000ft height in the said area, but the final decision is yet to be taken by the CAA.

“Our meeting remained very positive, as we on the directive of PM are on the same page to encourage vertical construction, but before finalising this matter the CAA will have to make some changes in its rules and regulations,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2019