ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has sought a briefing from the chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on the issue of revising Islamabad’s master plan, which has been facing delays for decades.
Sources in the interior ministry told Dawn that the ministry, in response to a summary submitted by the CDA for the reconstitution of the master plan commission, had directed the CDA chairman through an official letter to brief the minister on the matter before resubmitting the summary.
“CDA had moved a summary for the reconstitution of a commission, but a few days ago, we asked the CDA chairman through a letter to brief the minister on this issue and then re-submit the summary,” said an officer of the interior ministry.
He added that after the briefing, the CDA chief would re-submit the summary for onward submission to the federal cabinet.
It is pertinent to mention that the summary for the formation and reformation of the commission has been under process for several years. However, it has not yet been presented before the federal cabinet for approval.
Doxiadis Associates, the Greece-based firm that prepared Islamabad’s master plan in 1960, had recommended that it be revised every 20 years to meet the city’s evolving needs.
However, no proper revision has been carried out to date. Successive governments, without consulting experts, have made selective changes, and more than 50 amendments have been made to the city’s original blueprint.
The incumbent government also made at least six major changes to the master plan last year, excluding four H-series sectors from Zone I (the planned sector area), removing their buffer zones and industrial status, and converting them into residential sectors.
Without a proper revision, Islamabad, which has been witnessing rapid population growth, is facing numerous challenges, including unauthorised constructions, the spread of slums, unapproved housing schemes, shrinking parking spaces and water shortages.
In recent years, the CDA has repeatedly submitted summaries for the formation of the master plan commission, but none have been approved.
Even last year, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar assured the Senate that the matter would be placed before the cabinet in its next meeting.
The proposed commission, once approved by the federal cabinet, will be headed by the CDA chairman as convener and will include experts from various fields, including urban planning, regional planning, ecology, disaster risk management, water resources, building control, transport, and environment.
Previously, when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government came to power in 2018, it announced that the master plan would be revised, and then-prime minister Imran Khan formed a commission.
However, that commission prepared only an interim report in 2020, which mainly focused on building by-laws and the regularisation of certain areas, including Banigala.
The commission left the comprehensive revision of the master plan to an expert firm, which the CDA failed to hire. The tenure of that commission expired several years ago.
After the expiry of the previous commission’s tenure, the CDA has been seeking approval for a new commission, but the summary has yet to be approved by the federal cabinet.
Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2025
