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KARACHI, Dec 13: The Karachi Strategic Development Plan 2020 (KSDP), which is currently being debated by the City Council, recommends making the city district government Karachi (CDGK) the apex planning institution with the requisite legal authority to plan and control the development (ie zoning and building control regulations) of all the land and buildings in the city district, Dawn has learnt.
Emphasising the need to ensure that development activities follow set standards, the KSDP-2020 also proposes that the uniform laws and procedures being practiced by the CDGK be made mandatory for all civic agencies in the city district limits, irrespective of physical boundaries.
In addition to the CDGK, there are currently seven umbrella institutions that were delegated powers and responsibilities associated with the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations (KB&TPR) 2002. These include all the cantonment boards, the Karachi Port Trust, Pakistan Railways, the federal government’s Ministry of Works, the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate, the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority and the Sindh Board of Revenue.
With a view to making the CDGK the single agency for planning control and municipal services, the KSDP-2020 recommends that all land-holding agencies be placed under the municipal jurisdiction of the CDGK. This would give the city district government authority in this regard over the Karachi Port Trust, the Port Qasim Authority, Pakistan Steel, Pakistan Railways, the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate, the Defence Housing Authority, the Malir Development Authority and the Lyari Development Authority.
Furthermore, all the municipal infrastructural services in these areas would become the responsibility of the relevant local government or the CDGK, depending on the division of the responsibility for providing these services. Consequently, adds the KSDP-2020, the respective local governments will have the right to collect municipal taxes and fees in these areas.
The KSDP-2020 explains that: “This proposal does not mean eliminating the role of the major land-holding agencies in the development or re-development of the operational areas under their control.”
Although the land-holding agencies shall continue to plan the development of their areas while remaining consistent with the physical development framework defined under the KSDP-2020, they would need to forward their development/re-development plans to the CDGK’s master plan group of offices for approval in terms of the plan’s conformity with the Karachi Strategic Development Plan, says the document. It adds that this will not affect the land ownership rights of the respective agencies, and that the only aim is to establish the CDGK as the lead agency.
With a view to achieving this goal, the KSDP-2020 suggests that the CDGK petition for a federal statute to compel all land-holding agencies within the city district to comply with the city government in the implementation of the plan.
This, however, would require relevant federal statues such as the Cantonment Act and the Railways Act etc to be amended to state that the development of land and buildings by federal and provincial agencies, as well as other land-holding agencies, be consistent with the KSDP-2020 and comply by the Karachi Building Control Authority’s development regulations.
According to the KSDP-2020, shifting development control would require the relevant infrastructure-related assets would have to be transferred to the new owner, such as the rights-of-way for roads to the TMA, the water/wastewater network to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), the power supply network to the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) and the transfer of staff to the TMA and relevant infrastructure providers.
