ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Thursday gave the Ministry of Interior and Capital Development Authority (CDA) the go-ahead to revise Islamabad’s master plan.

The cabinet also approved the formation of a 12-member commission of experts that will make recommendations for changes to the plan.

Sources said the cabinet also decided that from now on, a professional of high repute who is not a civil servant will be appointed chairman of the CDA through a competitive process.

Ministry directed to start process of hiring new CDA chairman, who will not be a civil servant

The interior ministry was directed to start the process to hire a new chairman.

The CDA is going through significant administrative issues, with questions arising over the legitimacy of the incumbent chairman and board members of the authority, who are all civil servants.

The Islamabad High Court ruled last year that only non-civil servants could be appointed to these positions, but instead of starting the process to hire such individuals the last government used a presidential ordinance, later extended by parliament, as cover.

The legal cover of the ordinance expired a few months ago, and the status of the current CDA chairman, Afzal Latif, and its board members, has been in question.

The cabinet has now decided to implement the high court judgement. MNA Ali Awam, the special assistant to the prime minister on CDA affairs, said: “It has been decided that we will advertise the post of the chairman CDA.”

The cabinet’s approved commission to review the capital’s master plan will also consist of professionals.

After the cabinet meeting, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told the press that the cabinet had given the go-ahead to revise the master plan, which should have been revised every 20 years but was not by successive governments.

Mr Chaudhry said cabinet had directed the CDA not to render people homeless while revising the plan.

Sources said the interior ministry’s summary for the formation of the commission carried names that included environmentalist Javed Ali Khan, town planner and architect Prof Dr Ghulam Abbas, Prof Javed Hassan, environmentalist and architect Ayub Qutab, former CDA member planning Asad Mehboob Kayani, Member Planning Ehsanul Haq, Director Master Plan Zafar Iqbal Zafar and the director general of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency.

While revising the plan, the commission will also look into schools and clinics operating in residential areas.

According to existing CDA by-laws schools cannot operate in residential areas, although some 400 private schools are.

“Since necessary revisions of the master plan were not conducted in the CDA’s 58-year history, today the city has been facing several planning issues. The PTI government is committed to bringing improvement in the lives of citizens and the infrastructure of Islamabad as well,” Mr Awan said.

Although successive governments have not revised the master plan except for a few select changes, the city’s requirements have cased with the increase in population to more than 2 million, which has led to the mushrooming of illegal construction and other planning issues.

Zone III is a classic example of poor planning. Although construction was prohibited in this part of the capital, today Zone III is dotted with thousands of residential and commercial buildings.

It is said that while revising the master plan, the commission will look into the future of thousands of houses built in the zone as well, and these houses will likely be regularised.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2018