The federal cabinet has given the ministry of interior and the 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 that 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.
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 judgment.
Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Ali Awan, the special assistant to the prime minister on CDA affairs, said: “It has been decided that we will advertise the post of the CDA chairman.”
The cabinet’s approved commission to review the capital’s master plan will also be made up of professionals.
After the cabinet meeting, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry informed members of the media 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.
He said that the cabinet had directed the CDA not to render people homeless in the course of revising the plan.
Sources said that the interior ministry’s summary for the formation of the commission carried names that included environmentalist Javed Ali Khan, town planner and architect Professor Dr Ghulam Abbas, Professor Javed Hassan, environmentalist and architect Ayub Qutab, former CDA member for planning Asad Mehboob Kayani, CDA member for planning Ehsanul Haq, master plan director 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 are not permitted to 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,” Awan said. “The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is committed to bringing improvement in the lives of citizens and the infrastructure of Islamabad as well.”
Although successive governments have not revised the master plan except for a few select changes, the city’s requirements have changed with the increase in population to more than 2mn, 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.