ISLAMABAD: The Development Working Party (DWP) of Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Thursday approved several new development schemes including construction of a flyover at Kashmir Chowk of Murree Road.
This decision was taken in a meeting where PC-I for the project worth Rs1,385 million was approved. The completion time of this scheme is one year. According to a document, Kashmir Chowk is located on the main artery of Murree Road in front of Convention Centre. Under the said scheme, an elevated flyover will be constructed while the road will also be widened.
The committee also approved another PC-I worth Rs94 million for strengthening of the City Sewerage Division and procurement of equipment. According to CDA, procurement of a combined (suction, jetting) unit and allied equipment will improve overall maintenance of the city in addition to 26 existing sectors and four model villages, four trunk sewers, about 1,600-kilometre long connecting lines and 26,000 manholes. The completion time of this project is six months.
Furthermore, the CDA-DWP has approved a PC-I worth Rs800 million for strengthening of in-house departmental facilities of CDA by establishing a Geo-Spatial Technology Wing. CDA officials said in view of the Local Government Ordinance, the authority has to retain planning and estate management. Thus, it needs strengthening of in house departmental facilities of the wing. They said by implementation of this three-year project, the CDA will improve independency related to physical planning, land acquisition and infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the meeting also approved another scheme worth Rs70 million for hiring a consultant and conducting a survey for proposing development and zoning plan for Islamabad other than Zone-I.
Under this scheme, the CDA will hire a consultant, who will conduct preliminary survey and will submit a report suggesting viable solutions to regulate un-authorised settlements in rural areas where a population of more than 1.2 million resides. The consultant will conduct a detailed study and propose a solution.
CDA, according to its ordinance, is the regulator of all buildings and houses in Islamabad. However, it kept itself restricted to Zone I (where sectors are located) that resulted in mushroom growth of unauthorised construction elsewhere.
According to CDA officials, as per the existing rules, construction is not allowed on private land (around 20,000 acres of Zone-III) while controlled construction is allowed on sub-zone D, which comprises of 23,618 acres of Zone IV. The officials said due to outdated zoning policies, thousands of people are suffering now as officially they are not allowed to carry out construction on their land. However, he said to meet their needs, people have been carrying out unregulated and un-authorised construction, which created issues related to planning.
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2022
