ISLAMABAD: More than one year has passed, but the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is still waiting for the federal government to approve the names for a proposed commission, which will revise the master plan of the capital city.

In December last year, the CDA moved a summary, asking the federal government for the approval of new names for the commission. The summary was moved after the earlier commission had become inactive.

An officer of CDA said that a few months ago, the CDA had also taken up this issue with its parent ministry – the Ministry of Interior, which responded that the summary in this regard had already been moved to the Cabinet Division. However, there is no development hitherto, and the summary is yet to be taken up by the federal cabinet.

Sources said that CDA had proposed around 21 names for the commission. “We have been waiting for the approval of the summary since December 2022,” said an official. It is relevant to note here that the federal capital, which was built in accordance with a well-documented master plan developed in 1960, has been constantly facing changes to its master plan without any input from professional consultants. The master plan has faced around 45 changes by successive federal governments in total, but in spite of these changes, a proper revision has not been made yet.

CDA proposed a list of names for the commission in Dec last year

Doxiadis Associates, a Greece-based firm that had prepared the master plan, recommended its revision after every 20 years. However, no such revision has been made.

When the PTI government came to power in 2018, it announced that the master plan would be revised and then-prime minister Imran Khan also formed a commission in this regard. However, the commission, after a delay, prepared an interim report in 2020, which was mostly related to building by-laws and regularisation of certain areas, including Banigala.

The said commission left proper revision to a professional firm, which, due to various reasons, could not be hired till Mr Khan’s government ended in April last year. Later on, the said commission became inactive, therefore, it was decided that a new commission would be formed and a summary was sent to the interior ministry for the reconstitution of the commission.

One of the members of the CDA board said that revision of the master plan was imperative, adding that the civic body had been taking up this issue with the government for the last few years, but to no avail. He said that revision of the master plan should have been held every 20 years. “As far as the summary of new commission members is concerned…it has been lying somewhere, likely in the Cabinet Division, for the last year and so,” he said.

In addition to this, the planning wing of the civic agency has been without its head for the past month. Planning Member Waseem Hayat Bajwa was posted out last month along with other members who were repatriated to their parent departments in line with the orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan. A new appointment has yet to be made.

According to CDA officials, a qualified town planner, who could execute the revision of Islamabad’s master plan as well as other chronic planning issues, should be appointed to the post. In the summary moved in December, the CDA had requested the federal government for reconsideration of the commission formed by the PTI government, which later became inactive.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2023