THERE is a large amenity plot admeasuring approximately 12,000 square yards situated opposite the bandstand on the Clifton parade. (The bandstand was built early last century and donated to the people of Karachi by philanthropist Kavasji Hormusji Katrak. It stands on the adjoining parade and pavilion, built and donated to the people by another fellow Zoroastrian and citizen of Karachi, Jehangir Hormusjee Kothari.)

On the front part of the amenity plot stands the large building in which is housed the head offices of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The remainder of the plot, to the rear of the building lies empty. We all know what an amenity plot denotes and what relationship it has with the people, the common people, the awam so beloved of our politico rulers.

A news item in the Metropolitan section of this newspaper on July 21 informed us of a meeting held at the Governor’s House, by Governor Ishratul Ibad, attended, among others, by the president of the FPCCI, Mohammed Saeed, and his assorted office bearers, by Sindh Chief Secretary Fazlur Rahman, Assistant Chief Secretary Saleem Khan, the Chief Controller of Buildings, Brigadier A. S. Nasir, the provincial industries secretary, and the principal secretary to the governor, Brigadier Akhtar Zamin (who has since been transferred to the federal government).

The subject of the meeting was the construction, on the vacant portion of this amenity plot, of a 54-storeyed building to replace the present FPCCI headquarters. A technical presentation was made of what is described as the country’s tallest structure, consisting of a three-storeyed shopping mall, eight car-parking floors, a huge auditorium, an exhibition hall, offices, executive ‘blocks’ and an executive club. The cost of this earth-shattering magnificent structure is estimated to be Rs.3.75 billion (repeat billion, as opposed to million).

To their credit, reportedly the chief secretary, the assistant chief secretary and the chief controller of buildings ‘raised objections’ on the grounds that no commercial activity was allowed on an amenity plot, that if permission was wrongly given it would create massive traffic problems and adversely affect the civic life of the entire Clifton area.

The governor, coming to the aid of the merchant community, claimed that the construction of this monstrosity would have undeniable advantages. In doing so, he agreed with the FPCCI merchant adventurers that it had “been designed as an attractive symbol of identification of Karachi for those coming here from all over the world.”

He and the businessmen had no qualms about deviating from the law (for as said the governor, rules are only man-made and can be manipulated like plasticine), about converting the plot, or obtaining illegal permission, or causing traffic chaos and overloading the entire already overloaded shaky infrastructure of Clifton. The governor ordered that a report be prepared within ten days. The men of the FPCCI fawned and applauded (presumably) and assured the governor that work on the construction would then start “forthwith”. They also made the fatuous claim that no “vested interests” were involved. Do we laugh or cry?

Sometime in the 1970s, during the regime of President Fazal Elah Chaudhri and Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the vice-president of the FPCCI, citizen of Karachi Meher Hatim Alvi, suggested to his fellow citizens that they allow the FPCCI to build an imposing structure as its headquarters — banquet and exhibition halls plus offices etc — on the amenity plot facing the Arabian Sea. Alvi was asked, in good faith, to apply for permission to the head honcho of the Karachi Development Authority, the mightily well-connected Nizami.

The Federation at that time had insufficient funds and it took some 25 years for the building to be completed. That done, deviating from the original agreement and promise, the subsequent managers of the Federation illegally rented out the major portion of the headquarter building for commercial use. Greed grows like weeds, multiplies like rabbits, and the present lot who run the Federation are in the process of even commercializing the rooftop which now sprouts a huge and hideous advertisement hoarding ready and available for a lucrative rental.

I spoke to the FPCCI president last Friday. He hails from Azad Kashmir and must be given the benefit of the doubt, for how can he be aware of the modus operandi of the builder/developer fraternity/mafia of Karachi and the reasons for the ruling party’s cooperation with them?

He said he reads my columns; I hope he will read this one and then perhaps have a quick double-think about the misadventure which he has been persuaded to launch.

If he does not, if he does not do an about-turn in the interests of law, order and the city and its environment, then the people will have no alternative but to go to the courts. Meher Hatim Alvi, a life member of the Federation, has promised to join them.