Four years and counting: Islamabad Master Plan awaits revision

* Official says delay aggravating housing units’ shortage

By Fazal Sher

ISLAMABAD: Prolonged delay in revision of capital’s master plan is aggravating the problem of housing units’ shortage in the city with every passing day, an official of Capital Development Authority (CDA) told Daily Times on Friday.

“In time revision of master plan could have saved CDA from many problems it was facing presently,” he added.

CDA has so far failed to give final shape to the revised master plan of Islamabad on which it started work some four years back, he said.

The CDA had hired a consultant firm Mott McDonald Pakistan (MMP) some four years ago for this purpose. The firm prepared a proposal and presented to CDA board, which expressed its dissatisfaction with the plan, terming it unable to cater to the future needs of town, he said.

He said the CDA Board had asked the Planning Wing to suggest ways and means to address the shortcomings in question within a month and submit a revised version of the plan. The CDA officials concerned planned to engage Doxiadis Associates, a Greek firm that had prepared the city’s original master plan in 1960, for the job but couldn’t do so for certain reasons, the official said.

He said the changes proposed by MMP in the revise master plan included launching of new housing sectors, extension of municipal limits of capital city, establishment of another industrial zone and construction of new parks. The firm also proposed extension in territorial limits of Islamabad in order to include 17 and 18 series of sectors in its territory, he said.

The official said construction of high-rises in zone IV and V and construction of a Central Business District (CBD) in Zone IV of Islamabad was also proposed to improve economic activities in the federal capital.

He said the CDA’s Planning Wing was working on the revision of master plan for the last four years but due to lack of authority’s high-ups’ interest it could not complete the job.

He said according to original master plan Islamabad was divided into four parts: Rawalpindi (259 square kilometers), Islamabad Proper, inclusive of institutional and industrial areas (220.15 square kilometers), Islamabad Park (220.15 square kilometers) and Islamabad Rural (466.20 square kilometers).

The official said the CDA had reviewed its original master plan in mid-1980s and two major changes were made in it including new model towns in rural area around Islamabad. Eight such model villages were established, including Rawal Town, Humak, Chak Shehzad, Margalla Town, Tarlai Kalan, Alipur Farash, Kuri and Nurpur Shahan.
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