KARACHI, June 27: The long-awaited Karachi Master Plan 2020 is still in the process of being finalised, despite the fact that it was envisaged nearly two years ago. City Nazim Mustafa Kamal and other authorities of the city district government Karachi (CDGK) have, on several occasions, given different deadlines for making public the draft master plan but the document remains incomplete.

Work on the Master Plan 2020 started before the inception of the current Kamal-led city government when, on August 8, 2005, an agreement was signed between the city government and local consultant M/s ECIL, which offered the lowest bid of Rs57.621 million. At that time, authorities claimed that the plan would be completed within six months, but 22 months have now passed with no apparent results.

Last November, Mr Kamal told a seminar that the plan would be tabled for approval before the City Council in December 2006 — that December is yet to come.

Recently, however, the executive district officer (EDO) of the master plan group of offices, Iftikhar Qaimkhani, told Dawn that the draft master plan has been finalised and will soon be presented before a panel of experts, and then tabled in the City Council to be approved and be made a legal document. However, he did not divulge the exact timeframe given to the consultant for the completion of the project.

Insisting that there had been no delay in the finalisation of the document, he said: “The master plan or Strategic Development Plan is a research-based document and we have to evaluate all information before finalising it. The city government counterchecks all the reports of the consulting firm preparing the master plan and it is also briefing other stakeholders.” Mr Qaimkhani took refuge in the claim that work on the Karachi Master Plan 2000 was initiated in 1987 and completed in 1991.

Informed sources told Dawn that the city government has recently extended the consultant’s completion deadline, and that the cost of the project has also increased. However, no official was willing to disclose the actual figures involved.

Citing the lack of cooperation of land-controlling authorities as one of the main reasons behind the project’s delay, these sources said that “we faced serious problems when some of the stakeholders refused to share relevant data. They started sharing their records last October, after the intervention of top government functionaries.”

The Karachi Master Plan 2020 focuses mainly on the city’s future needs in terms of housing, health, transportation, education, civic infrastructure and waste disposal.