ISLAMABAD, April 30: The city fathers are planning to establish a new diplomatic enclave consisting of over 60 buildings for embassies to accommodate those being run in residential areas with a view to avoid security threats, a senior official of Capital Development Authority (CDA) told Dawn on Wednesday.

The new diplomatic enclave will be bigger than the exiting one and will accommodate not only those countries whose missions are working in other areas of Islamabad but also those who have not established their embassies yet.

The official said a number of countries had asked the CDA through the Foreign Office to provide them land for the construction of their consulates but due to unavailability of land in the existing diplomatic enclave their pleas were not entertained. Foreign missions have asked the Foreign Office several times in the past to immediately shift their embassies from residential areas to the diplomatic enclave, he added.

The official said the authority has allocated some 780 acres close to the existing enclave for the new one. The existing diplomatic enclave spreads over about 760 acres.

The planning wing of the CDA has handed over the land to the engineering wing and following the completion of designs, work on the new enclave would be started, he said.

He said foolproof security arrangements would be provided to the embassies in the new enclave which would be fenced like the existing one.

The establishment of the new enclave has been proposed in the under-revised mater plan of Islamabad, he said.

However, the CDA had already violated the existing master plan by extending the existing diplomatic enclave four years ago. A green area located between Noorpur Shahan village and the diplomatic enclave had been included in the periphery of the enclave despite the fact that there was no such provision in the first master plan.

The official said one of the basic reasons to establish a new diplomatic enclave was to bring all embassies in residential areas under an umbrella, as they were vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

The existing diplomatic enclave has also been fenced and the entry of public, other than the employees of embassies and visa seekers, has been banned.

To further strengthen security of the area, the government has also formed a special police department - Diplomatic Protection Department (DPD).