ISLAMABAD: Despite preparing several summaries and making amendments to proposed names, it seems the government is not in a hurry to start the much-delayed revision of Islamabad`s master plan.

The revision, according to experts, should have been donein the 80s.

These inordinate delays have resulted in selective changes to the blueprint of the city, causing planning issues.

Doxiadis Associates, the Greece-based firm that prepared the master plan, had recommended its revision every 20 years to meet the needs of the time.

However, successive governments did not bother to make proper revisions but rather kept focusing on selective changes without any input from professionals, resulting in poor planning in the capital city.

Islamabad, once known to be one of the most beautiful capital cities in theworld, is grappling with unauthorised constructions, illegal slums, unregulated areas, water shortage, illegal housing schemes, shrinking green areas and scarcity of parking spaces.

Relevant officials suggest that there is a need for the formation of a master plan commission for the much-needed revision to resolve planning issues.

Ironically, the revision of the master plan faces inordinate delays. Successive governments make amendments to the master plans, getting approvals from the federal cabinets without getting any input from the experts.

The incumbent government too, a few months ago, made at least six major changes to the master plan of Islamabad, excluding four H-series sectors from Zone I of Islamabad (planned sectors area), ending their buffer zones and industrial status and converting them into residentialsectors.

The master plan of Islamabad so far (from 1960 to 2025) has faced over 50 major changes, all by federal governments.

Last year, Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar promised on the floor of the Senate that the matter of the formation of the master plan commission would be placed before the cabinet in the next meeting.

However, so far the summary has notbeen placed before the cabinet for approval.

Last month, sources said the number of the proposed commission`s members was increased from 15 to 20 with the addition of new names.

The new names included Dr Abdul Waheed (head of urban and regional planning, National University of Sciences and Technology), ecology expert Dr Sher Jamal Khan, disaster risk management expert Mubashir Hussain and water resource specialist Dr Pervez Ahsan Khan.

The director general building control CDA has also been included as the proposed member.

Interestingly, two relevant CDA officials director master plan and director general planning are no longer part of the new proposed commission.

According to the new proposal, if approved by the cabinet, the commission will be headed by the CDA chairman as the convener. Besides the above-mentioned five new members, the commission will have three urban planners including Aslam Mughal, Jahangir Sherpao and Khurram Farid.

Nespak Lahore Executive Vice President Dawood Rana will be a member as a transportation planning specialist.

Meanwhile, the summary also carriedthe name of a retired bureaucrat of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) Syed Rizwan Mehboob as an environmentalist.

The sources said Dr Naveed Iftikhar will be a member as an urban economist while the name of a resident of Islamabad, Raja Changzeb Sultan, has also been proposed as a representative of the villages in Islamabad.

The names of Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Qasim Chauhan and architect Abdullah Khan have also been proposed.

In addition, the deputy commissioner of Islamabad, member planning CDA, member environment and the director general of Pakistan Environment Protection Agency will be ex-officio members.

Previously, when the PTI government came to power in 2018, it announced that the master plan would be revised and the then prime minister Imran Khan also formed a commission.

However, the commission prepared an interim report in 2020 which was mostly related to building by-laws and regularisation of certain areas, including Banigala. The body left the revision of the master plan to an expert firm which could not be hired by CDA.

Meanwhile, the commission became inactive after completing its tenure and a new commission could not be formed.