ISLAMABAD: The federal government has rejected a proposal of the Balochistan government to open up process for launch of new housing and commercial societies in Gwadar by the private investors to revive business activities in the emerging port city.

Balochistan has been asked to wait for the finalisation of Gwadar City Master Plan by Chinese consultants due in August and not to issue any fresh no-objection certificate (NOC) to real estate developers until the master plan is approved by the federal government, a Planning Commission official told Dawn.

The Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) — the key institution responsible for development, regulation and monitoring of the port city — had earlier allowed about 103 housing societies, including three public sector housing schemes. About 100 private real estate firms had around 14,500 acres of land under their control and launched development schemes by seeking investments from the general public in the country and overseas.

Centre asks Balochistan to wait for city’s master plan and calls for check on mushroom growth of residential schemes

Mainly because of some initial wrongdoings and misleading offers, the GDA started streamlining their business activities by offering verification services to the investors through its online system, but then suspended the businesses of about 75 out of 100 developers who had become dormant or ineffective.

This was done on the advice of the federal government and their Chinese counterparts to avoid unplanned, haphazard and mushroom growth of housing schemes that could later become nuisance for planned development of Gwadar City and create liabilities for the GDA or the federal and provincial governments.

The ban on private schemes was imposed early last year as China and Pakistan agreed to prepare a master plan for a Smart Modern Port City for Gwadar. The Chinese consultants are required to submit the master plan by Aug 14 this year.

The official said the GDA had recently taken up the matter with Minister for Planning and Interior Ahsan Iqbal to lift the ban on the issuance of NOCs to new housing developers or reviving the suspended NOCs to generate investment interests. The GDA authorities had told the centre that a lot of new developers were approaching for NOCs to start operations.

The minister, who is also acting as Pakistan’s focal person on the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), did not agree, saying the government should not allow unplanned developmental activities in the port city. The GDA was, therefore advised to wait for the master plan to avoid complications at a later stage.

The GDA was asked that mushroom growth of private sector residential areas should be discouraged before the completion of Gwadar City Master Plan. Gwadar Smart Port City Master Plan, a one-year project with $4 million Chinese grant was launched in August last year and is required to be submitted to Pakistan authorities by Aug 14 this year for review and approval.

It envisages preparation of a master plan, including city planning and urban design, city transportation planning and design, energy, technology and connectivity infrastructure and policies, port city economic planning, community participation and empowerment, disaster risk management and integrated business development plan for the city and port, etc.

The master city plan will also include the programme for the resettlement of the existing residents of the city. The relocation is a major task and the government will have to accomplish it peacefully by offering attractive incentives to residents for their displacement that could upgrade their living and livelihood standards.

The official said a new committee would be constituted to evaluate the performance of the private housing societies every six months and keep winding up non-performing developers as a continuous process.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2018