FEDERAL capital Islamabad is amongst the very few cities
in the world that have been planned from scratch and it was envisaged to build it on modern lines to make it a face of Pakistan.
However, what has transpired over the years is that the capital like many other cities of the country is also faced with a plethora of problems ranging from water shortage to poor transport and lack of health and education facilities. Hearing a case on Friday, a three-member bench of Supreme Court headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmad also made very pertinent and right observations regarding the situation of the federal capital. It also came harsh on the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for defacing Islamabad converting half of it into a city and half into a village. Indeed over the last one decade or so, one has seen a rapid increase in the rural area of Islamabad devoid of basic facilities. This happened as the civic body miserably failed to complete development on the planned sectors which created a huge shortage of housing units. This provided an opportunity to the housing societies either legal or illegal to mint money from the people by opening their housing schemes. There was once a time when our capital appeared to be transforming under Chairman CDA Kamran Lashari between 2003 and 2008 who, in fact, undertook massive infrastructure projects. However since then, no worthwhile effort has been made to build on the work of Lashari. We have been hearing from this government of bringing a new Master Plan for the city but one and a half year has passed and nothing concrete has emerged. Major projects still await implementation including that of the expansion of Islamabad Expressway up to Rawat. We will urge both the elected representatives from Islamabad as well as the CDA to sit together and chalk out a comprehensive plan for the development of the city as per the modern standards which provide start of the art transport, health, education, water and sanitation and other facilities to the residents. Instead of further expanding the capital, it will be advisable to fix its precincts and in its adjoining areas, one or two smart cities are established. Smaller cities are always very easy for the city government or civic bodies to manage.
