ISLAMABAD: Planning Minister Asad Umar has directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to ensure that consultants are hired and working on the revision of the master plan and the Islamabad Bulk Water Supply projects before June 30.

In a letter, Mr Umar, a PTI MNA from Islamabad, has directed the CDA to hire consultants for these projects so they can begin working before June 30 in the ongoing fiscal year.

He also directed the CDA to submit its action plan by March 6.

The letter, addressed to the CDA, was written by Qumar Sarwar Abbasi, special assistant to the minister.

It stated that based on input received from the CDA as well as discussions on the subject, the minister has approved a list of targets to be met in the context of the master plan during the current financial year up to June 30, 2020.

The letter highlighted the targets as the hiring of consultants to develop Islamabad’s master plan and begin work in this regard, as well as the hiring and mobilisation of international consultants of the Islamabad Bulk Water Supply project.

The CDA has been asked to provide action plans with timelines for the completion of these activities within the prescribed timeframe, and to submit these plans by March 6.

Mr Umar also chaired a single agenda meeting of senior CDA officials to push for the process of revising the capital’s master plan to be expedited, following an unending delay due to bureaucratic wrangling.

In October, the cabinet had directed the CDA to hire an international consultant to revise the master plan, which the CDA has yet to do.

The authority has said that the draft Request for Proposal (RFP) was forwarded by the CDA to the Planning Commission in December to be vetted, but the document has not been cleared and both organisations are currently deliberating on it.

“The proposed document is lying with the Planning Commission. They had some objections which we tried to remove; both organisations are working on the RFP,” a CDA officer said.

The cabinet had told the CDA to hire an international consultant after approving an interim report on the master plan revision. But before doing so, the cabinet had directed the authority to get its RFP vetted by the Planning Commission.

The CDA board forwarded the RFP to the Planning Commission in December last year but is still waiting for a go-ahead, sources said.

In December 2018, the PTI government formed a commission of experts to comprehensively revise the capital’s master plan for the first time in its history. The commission prepared a draft report after a series of meetings and approved by-laws related to buildings, but left the proper revision to a professional consultancy firm that is to be hired by the CDA.

Islamabad’s master plan was prepared in 1960 and was supposed to be revised every 20 years, but successive governments did not make proper revisions in accordance with the city’s emerging needs. More than 40 selective changes were made without input from professional consultants.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2020