ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the federal government has, in principle, approved an amendment to the master plan of the capital to convert the commercial area of Blue Area near E-10 into a greenbelt.

Sources in the Cabinet Division told Dawn that the federal cabinet a few days ago approved a summary through circulation for the conditional amendment to the master plan to convert the 375 kanals into a green area.

However, the approval was subject to the recommendation from the commission which was authorised to revise the master plan. An official of the Cabinet Division said the cabinet was the supreme forum and after its approval there were slim chances of an opposition from the federal commission.

“Technically, you can say that this decision is almost final as practically turning down the cabinet’s decision by the subordinate commission would be something very unusual,” the official said. He said the cabinet took the decision primarily because of security concerns as the Defence Complex was being constructed in E-10, and it was decided that a portion of the land there should be declared a green area.

Official says decision part of security measures as Defence Complex being constructed in the sector

The commission for the revision of the master plan, which was formed in 2018, has been dysfunctional for the last three years. During its period, the commission failed in revising the blueprint of the city.

Doxiadis Associates, a Greece-based firm that prepared the master plan, had recommended its revision after every 20 years in accordance with the needs of time. However, successive governments did not bother to make a proper revision rather kept focusing on selective changes without any input from professionals, resulting in poor planning in the capital city.

So far, over 45 changes have been made to the original master plan by federal cabinets without getting any input from the experts. The CDA in January this year had sent a summary to the government proposing names of experts to reconstitute the commission to revise the master plan. The summary could not be placed before the cabinet for approval.

However, through an official letter dated July 2, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi directed the CDA chairman to brief him about the reconstitution of the commission. A source in the interior ministry said after getting input from the CDA, the interior minister was making efforts to get the summary approved from the cabinet.

Earlier, the caretaker government led by Anwaarul Haq Kakar had shown its interest in approving names to reconstitute the already notified commission which had become inactive a couple of years ago.

The CDA had moved a summary to the interior ministry for placing it before the caretaker government.

However, the summary could not be placed before the caretaker cabinet.

In the summary, the CDA had forwarded a list of 20 experts out of which the cabinet was supposed to approve 13 names. In addition, there would be seven ex-officio members. The seven experts were: Dr Shabihul Hassan Zaidi, Dr Imran Mohammad, Dr Abdul Waheed, Umar Farooq, Mohammad Abdullah and Khurram Farid Bargat.

Meanwhile, the CDA proposed a panel of three experts for one post of transportation planning specialist. They were: Khushal Khan, Mian Wamiq Anwar and Azam Khan Lodhi.

Two names of architects - Prof Dr Noman Ahmad and Ejaz Ahmed Qadri — were proposed against one post.

The names of former member engineering and planning CDA Hafiz Ehsanul Haq, Dr Pervez Ahsan Khan and Prof Dr Obaidullah Nadeem had been proposed against the posts of civil engineer, water resource and management expert and academicians, respectively.

Similarly, for one post of environmentalist, the names of Viqar Zikria and Dr Ghulam Raza Bhatti had been proposed along with urban economist Dr Naveed Iftikhar and senor lawyer Hafiz Arfaat Ahmad. The ex-officio members included the CDA chairman, who will act as the convener of the commission, and the member planning, chief physical planning and housing, Planning Commission of Pakistan, director general Rawalpindi Development Authority, director general Pakistan Environment Protection Agency, director general planning CDA and any other co-opted member to be nominated by civic agency’s member planning.

Earlier, when the PTI government came to power in 2018, it announced that the master plan would be revised and the then prime minister Imran Khan also formed a commission. However, the commission prepared an interim report in 2020 which was mostly related to building by-laws and regularisation of certain areas.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2024