KARACHI, Oct 20: The city government plans to develop a model central park at the site of Gutter Baghicha so that the people in the vicinity can have open space for healthy activities.

This was announced by city Nazim Naimatullah Khan, while speaking at a seminar on “Citizens Perspective on Rules/ Regulations of the Karachi Building Control Authority”, organised jointly by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and Shehri, on Saturday.

He said that a park would also be developed at the site of the old Sabzimandi on University Road.

He said that now that the public representatives were heading the city government, not a single plot reserved for parks would be converted for other uses.

He said laws conflicted under two systems of governances existing in Karachi. He said on the one hand the city government existed, while on the other, cantonment boards were holding sway over specific areas, pursuing their own rules and regulations entirely in contravention to the interest of Karachi.

“The builders in such areas are allowed to construct up to 12-storey structures which are adding to the problems of citizens of the port city and are proving to be an environmental hazard”, he added.

He said that in many places one side of a road was controlled by a cantonment board while the other was under the KMC/KDA, and one could see a 12-storey building on one side of the road and a four-storey building on the other side of it, creating doubts and confusion in the minds of the people.

He said that Karachi should be treated as a single unit in a master plan so that same set of rules could be applied on the whole of it.

Elaborating this he said that a major portion of the city land was controlled by various cantonment boards while the rest was controlled by the KMC/KDA, and these followed different set of rules.

Referring to the issue of illegal constructions or highrise buildings, he said that though builders and officials concerned were directly responsible, NGOs and citizens also had the responsibility to move the courts to stop illegal constructions.

He did not agree with the view that a large number of poor people, particularly widows and orphans, who had booked flats in buildings were suffering as constructions had stopped due to court cases instituted by the NGO, Shehri.

The city Nazim said that it was duty of every citizen to report illegal happenings to the authority concerned, and if nothing happened then move the courts to stop irregularities. Shehri, he said, had fulfilled its duty as a responsible organisation and that all the citizens should also follow such examples.

Though he was repeatedly asked by the audience whether he supported or opposed regularisation of illegally constructed buildings, he did not commit anything and said that he would decide when the matter came before him.

Other speakers on the occasion expressed the view that the proposed ordinance for regularisation of illegal buildings did not propose harsh penalties for violators and that it also would open gates for violation of the laws in future.

They said that the penalties proposed were cosmetic, and whatever penalty was imposed, builders would pass it on to allottees, so violators would not be deterred.

They suggested that harsh penalties, like institution of criminal proceedings and long prison terms be proposed so that these acted as a deterrent for future violators.

They said that there were over 1,400 plots reserved for parks, play grounds and open spaces in the city, but now only around 1,100 had remained which showed that over 300 plots reserved for parks and play grounds had be converted by the past governments.

They said that in almost all the major cities in the world civic laws were reviewed after around every 10 years, but in Karachi, where the population was increasing at around 6 per cent a year, the laws had not been updated for nearly three decades, which was creating hurdles in the city’s planned and regulated growth.

Referring to the point made earlier that this would be a one- time regularisation and no illegal-constructed buildings would be regularised afterwards, they said that things like these were always said, but once this regularisation process was started it could never be stopped.

They suggested that a master plan for the city be prepared and notified so that illegal constructions could be checked effectively.

They also suggested that the area between M. A. Jinnah Road, Mansfield Street, Abdullah Haroon Road and Lucky Star be declared the traffic free zone, They said such pedestrian streets and zones were present in every major city in the world and were very popular with people and tourists.

Nooruddin Ahmad of the Pakistan Engineer Council, Syed Kaleemuddin of the Pakistan Council of Architects and Town # Planners, and Qazi Faez Isa and Khatib Ahmad of Shehri, and others spoke on the occasion.