ISLAMABAD: It seems the revision of Islamabad’s master plan has been placed on the back burner, as there is no active commission at present to do this much-needed job to stop haphazard constructions across the city.

The federal capital, which was built in accordance with a well-documented master plan developed in 1960 has been constantly facing changes to its blueprint without having any input from professional consultants.

Hitherto, the master plan has faced around 45 changes by successive federal governments, but in spite of these changes, a proper revision has not been made yet.

When contacted, Chairman Noorul Amin Mengal said that before he took charge of the CDA, a summary had been forwarded to the federal government for the appointment of a new commission. “I will follow up on that summary and will play my role for getting the commission notified and ensure proper revision of the master plan of Islamabad,” he said and added that revision of the master plan is needed for the planned growth of the city.

There have been 45 alterations to blueprint without professional help

Doxiadis Associates, a Greece-based firm, that had prepared the master plan recommended its revision after every 20 years. But, no such revision has been made to date since the government only relied on selective changes.

When the PTI government came to power in 2018, it announced that the master plan will be revised and then-prime minister Imran Khan also formed a commission in this regard. However, the commission after a delay prepared an interim report in 2020, which was mostly related to the building by-laws.

It left the proper revision to a professional firm, which could not be hired till Mr Khan’s government ended in April last year.

The attitude of the incumbent government toward the revision of the master plan is also not different, as it has not notified the new commission either. Sources in the CDA said that in January this year, a summary was sent to the interior ministry with new names for the commission members for onward approval from the federal cabinet. However, there is no further development on the said summary.

“We sent a summary a couple of months ago to the federal government, recommending new names for the commission members; we are waiting for approval of names from the federal government,” said a senior officer of the CDA.

In the absence of any proper revision, Islamabad has been facing several planning challenges. The CDA has kept its focus on urban and sectoral areas only which resulted in mushroom growths of unplanned construction in rural parts of the capital, whereas in urban areas, the plan was not properly implemented and in some cases, it was not followed at all.

CDA officials said once the summary is approved, the new commission will start revision and will go for hiring a consultant firm. In 2020, the previous commission sought bids from the consultant firms but could not get a due response from the reputed firms. Now, the CDA officials said, the homework to hire a consultant is complete. Since the interim report of the previous commission covered many areas, the revision work could be done within a year if the new commission is formed and a consultant firm is hired in time.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2023