KARACHI, Dec 28: The development work relating to the construction of a central park on the old Sabzimandi land appears to have been abandoned as after levelling of the ground no visible progress has taken place.

Even the layout plan of the proposed park has not been displayed at the site.

The delay in the construction work is giving rise to misgivings among concerned citizens, and they have expressed apprehensions that the land mafia might be trying to place obstacles in the way of the construction of the proposed park through litigation, so that whenever they think it appropriate they could convince the cash-strapped government to get the land back from the 5th Corps and dispose of a major part of it to builders who would raise commercial buildings on the land. This is being feared as it is prime land and it could fetch a handsome amount for the government.

The City Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, has, however, tried to remove the misgivings saying the 5th Corps officials, responsible for the project, are now busy handling litigation problems, which would soon be overcome.

Although the Nazim had said a site office and a nursery had been set up on one of the adjacent open ground, the situation on the ground shows that the 5th Corps has lost interest in the project at least for the present as it is busy with the litigation issue, which is said to be the main cause of stalling the work.

Since April, when the project was handed over to the 5th Corps by the city government for developing it into a central park befitting the megacity, some litigation issues have come up which, reportedly, have blocked the development work.

When Mr Khan’s attention was drawn to the apprehensions of the concerned citizens, he said hopefully a final presentation of the park design was due to be followed by its swift implementation. He promised to take up the matter pertaining to the latest position vis-a-vis progress on the construction of the proposed park with the 5th Corps.

The project, spread over 16 acre, is being looked after by the 5th Corps since April 2 when it was handed over to the army to convert the vacated land into a central park, has so far not moved beyond ground levelling by removing boulders, boundary walls, auction platforms and other encroachments.

The general public is unaware of the nature of the litigation. They, however, find it surprising when they compare the slow pace of the development work of the proposed park in the past nine months to the commendable performance of the army as they in just one year completed the Herculean task of developing a sprawling beautiful park around the mausoleum of the Quaid-i- Azam.

The central park was promised and had been reiterated by the authorities from the time when the plan for the new Sabzimandi on Super Highway had been conceived in the early 1990s.

Under an agreement signed between 5th Corps Commander Lt-Gen Tariq Waseem Ghazi and City Nazim Naimatullah Khan on April 2, the park is to be developed by the Corps out of its own resources.

The central park would be the second valuable gift to the people of the megacity by the army after its contribution in the form of the Shalamar-style park around the mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam.

The Nazim Karachi, at the time of the signing ceremony of entrusting the job to the army, had requested the Corps Commander to develop a beautiful park under the “Green City Programme.” The Corps Commander had agreed to this and it was decided, in principle, that the army would develop the proposed park out of its own resources and present it as a gift to the people.

The army had earlier been assigned the task of supervising the shifting of the old Sabzimandi to its new site. Then army teams had carried out the land’s survey to ensure that no one encroached on any part of the land after it was vacated.

Soon after, a committee, headed by Brigadier Ghulam Qadir, was set up to monitor the progress of the shifting process. After the Sabzimandi was shifted to the new site, the land of the old Sabzimandi was placed under the supervision of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation for the development of a non-commercial park on it.

Since the shifting of the Sabzimandi in April the people of Karachi have been eager to see a sprawling park on the site of the old Sabzimandi, as promised by successive governments, including Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro.

Earlier, when the decision was taken to shift the old Sabzimandi from University Road to Super Highway, concerned citizens and leaders of public opinion had expressed concern over reports that after the Sabzimandi was shifted to its new location the vacated land would be utilized to raise funds for the government.

They point out that open space is inadequate in the city for an increasing population as manipulators have encroached upon most open space forcing children to play on roads at the risk of their own life and that of others. The failure to prevent encroachments on open space on such a wide scale has turned this city into one of the most polluted cities of the world. This situation makes the construction of a well-planned central park all the more necessary.