IN what could be termed as an important development vis-à-vis Islamabad, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday approved a plan to develop a commercial city named New Blue Area within the limits of the federal capital. For this purpose, the government has allocated land in front of F-9 Park and it is initially expected to generate revenue of up to Rs 30 billion from it.
Given the congestion at the existing blue area, it in fact was need of the area to establish a separate commercial area which will not only expedite economic activities but would also provide hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs to our youth. However before embarking upon the mega project, proper planning should be done in consultation with all the stakeholders especially the business community. Models of some other developed countries can also be studied in order to build this new commercial facility which by all means should be as per the international standards in order to attract the investment of foreigners in the establishment of either food outlets, restaurants or the shopping malls. The problems faced by existing blue area such as that of parking should also be kept in mind. Those constructing the high rise buildings in the new commercial area should be given the clear instructions to follow the building codes as well as allocate one storey which may be the basement for the purpose of parking of vehicles. This indeed is important to maintain the beautiful landscape of the new blue area. Having said so, it is important that the government also pays special attention towards addressing the problems faced by the residents of the capital. It was on 24 February 1960 that the capital city was named Islamabad and since then it has seen massive growth especially in terms of population as people from other cities also turn to this city for the job opportunities. This has put extra burden on the existing civic facilities and infrastructure. The CDA over the last few years has failed to complete any new sector and then the situation in the rural areas of the capital is also known to everyone. The government must immediately revisit the Master Plan of the capital which should envisage concrete measures to turn Islamabad into a real model city. Apart from building better health and education facilities, other necessary infrastructure such as re-carpeting of roads should be done immediately and a mass transit system should be executed at the earliest so that the people have access to a fast and reliable transport.
