KARACHI, Nov 3: The city government has decided to undertake phased development work on the biggest park of the megapolis - Gutter Baghicha - which will be spread over 480 acres of land. The first phase is likely to be completed in one year.

In this connection, PC-1 and phase-1 development plan are at the stage of inviting tenders for work on the specified area 163 acres, according to informed sources.

The plan to develop Gutter Baghicha was chalked out after an announcement by President Pervez Musharraf during his referendum campaign in April 2001 that the city would get two central parks. He had directed the concerned authorities to build the parks one at the old Sabzi Mandi site on University Road and the other at the treatment site in Pak Colony.

The original size of the old Sabzi Mandi site, renamed now as 'Askari Park' as the park development work is being funded by army, was 38 acres. However, while it was being handed over to the army, almost half the area appeared encroached upon or leased out to some private parties some of them had raised cold storages, factories, etc. on the plot allotted to them. Some other allottees had kept their plots open.

Without waiting for the removal of encroachment or retrieval of the entire project site, the authorities started development on the available space at both the sites.

In the case of Gutter Baghicha, initial work had to be stopped midway as the encroachments hindered the survey process, on the one hand, and the Rs1 million fund allocated from the city government's budget 2002-03, lapsed, on the other.

Another attempt to resume the work was made in July when the authorities started dismantling illegally built hydrants in the vicinity of the project site. However, the operation had to be stopped abruptly only two days after it was launched.

Originally, the Gutter Baghicha, according to 1892 records, was spread over an area of 1,016 acres and carried survey number 28/108. On its western boundaries was old Golimar and Haroonabad, on eastern side Jahanabad, in the north was SITE and beyond its southern boundary was the Mewashah graveyard.The Karachi Guide & Directory 1915, which identifies the huge amenity plot as 'sewage farm', shows that cereals, green fodder and vegetables used to be cultivated on the land and the farmers used to sell the produce to the city's municipality to earn considerable profit in that era.

Within the vicinity of Gutter Baghicha, there was government primary school. Built in 1923, it was named as Bunde Ali Makki School and was meant for the farmers' children.

With the passage of time and rapid commercialization of the area, value of land increased manifold. Eventually, the 'land mafia' resorted to encroach upon the land gradually. In connivance with the police and local administration, the mafia continued its encroachment spree. In order to maintain its control of the encroached pieces of land, the mafia established Kuthchi Abadis, workshops, industrial units, etc., and minted heavy amounts of money out of the deals with the beneficiaries. Much of the encroached land which appeared not viable for any business was converted into dumping sites for domestic and industrial waste.

Numerous official maps and documents prepared over the past century designated the Gutter Baghicha as 'Municipal Gardens'. The KMC budget documents of 1993-94 has the record of the income from Gutter Baghicha.

The NGOs operating in the area fear that landgrabbers would continue to encroach upon the salvaged space of the Baghicha unless appropriate measures are taken promptly.