ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday deferred the matter of appointing some new members of the federal commission tasked to revise the capital’s master plan.

In his post-cabinet media briefing, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the summary for appointing members of the commission and the issue of irregular housing societies had been taken up by the interior ministry.

He said the ministry would resubmit summaries of both the issues later.

Sources said three new names were proposed to be included as members of the existing commission.

It is relevant to note that the issue had been facing inordinate delay since December 2018 when the federal government decided to form a commission of experts to revise the blueprint of the city. However, till now no consultant firm has been hired to carry out a detailed revision.

Islamabad’s master plan - prepared in 1960 by a Greek firm - was supposed to be revised after every 20 years, but successive governments paid no heed to it. The negligence resulted in mushroom growth of illegal buildings.

Interior ministry to resubmit summary; minister concerned over depleting water level due to housing schemes

The commission was formed by the federal government in December 2018, which prepared an interim report that was approved by the federal cabinet in October 2019. In its interim report, the commission members formed new by-laws related to commercial buildings and also regularised unauthorised construction in some areas. However, no solution was proposed for Zone-III where there has been unauthorised construction on private land.

The commission decided that a proper revision would be carried out by a professional consultant to be hired by the Capital Development Authority (CDA), however, so far the consultant has not been appointed due to technical reasons.

The CDA had invited bids from reputed firms through advertisements. In response, it received bids from a consortium of four consultant firms having 11 companies last year. But none of them fulfilled the criteria which the civic body had sought in the advertisement.

Subsequently, the matter was presented before the CDA Board, which referred the issue to Ministry of Planning, which had vetted the terms and conditions for hiring the consultants. However, sources said the issue still remained undecided.

Talking about the irregular housing societies in his media briefing, the information minister said the summary had been withdrawn by the interior ministry to present it afresh.

He said housing schemes in Islamabad and other areas were experiencing growth, but at the same time, underground water level was depleting.

The minister said approving housing societies without keeping in view the issue of underground level would create water imbalance, adding that it was a considered opinion of Prime Minister Imran Khan that environmental issues should be addressed while doing such planning.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2021