Destroying greenbelts

The green image of Islamabad is again under threat. The city managers have again planned to rent out greenbelts as parking lots for the government and private departments. The board of Capital Development Authority (CDA) has recently approved the plan. In the past the civic agency had been harshly criticised for renting out greenbelts for establishing parking lots for five-star hotels and important government departments. It appears CDA is encouraging offices to operate from residential areas by allowing green areas to be converted into parking lots. In not too distant future, the houses around various commercial centres of Islamabad will be converted into shopping malls and high-rise buildings. But many buildings in the Blue Area, the commercial hub of the capital, are vacant today. The reason for not shifting offices to these buildings is lack of parking facilities and security problems. In residential areas, cars are parked on the footpaths and the pedestrians walk on the roads. As the authority with all its resources is helpless in stopping illegal use of houses, the next best thing for it is to join the misuse and make money. Islamabad is gradually being turned into a commercial town. Very few high-rise buildings in Islamabad have parking facilities. The buildings having this facility have converted it into shops. One of the top town developer firms of Italy was engaged to plan Islamabad. The planner had defined every facility to make it a beautiful town. But the changes in the original plan are also changing the capital's outlook. "The decision has been taken in the CDA board meeting on Tuesday to create more parking areas to facilitate people," Tahir Shamshad, the authority's member planning, said. He was of the view that the authority, for the first time, was properly establishing parking areas in the greenbelts Though the decision has been taken, it is obvious that the government and commercial departments occupying greenbelts are marring the scenic beauty of Islamabad. Ramzan Sajid, the CDA spokesman, said more greenbelts will be made available to departments for which the authority will charge monthly rent. After establishing parking lots, he said the CDA would maintain and run them. Under the plan everyone from general public and employees of departments will have to pay daily parking charges. The city managers maintain that the civic agency would ensure protection of green character of Islamabad, saying that trees will be planted in the parking lots. The CDA had already provided greenbelts on nominal charges to dozens of departments and five-star hotels for parking cars on service road along Kashmir Highway, in front of offices like Federal Investigation Agency, Khan Research Laboratories Hospital, Civil Defence, National Highway Authority headquarters, Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation, Telecommunication Foundation, Pak-Public Works Department, Directorate of Federal Education, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Marri Gas, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation, Serena Hotel, Marriott Hotel and in Red Zone in front of offices like National Database Registration Authority and National Accountability Bureau. Last year the CDA had told the National Assembly that it was charging monthly rent for providing greenbelts to different departments for car parking. It claimed that NAB was paying monthly rent of Rs4,667, World Bank Rs5,193, Bahria Institute of Management Sciences Rs5,870, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Rs9,610, Marriott Hotel Rs59,820 and Bestway Cement Rs6,165. Apart from the civil departments, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has also encroached upon some portion of a greenbelt outside Shaheen Complex in sector E-9, extending the boundary fence of the complex up to the greenbelt. The CDA opposed the move but failed to get the greenbelt vacated. According to the CDA laws, no movable and immovable structure could be made on the greenbelts. But greenbelts are being used for parking lots, and occupied by chappar hotels, mosques, seminaries, CDA’s offices, weekly bazaars, Wapda’s installations etc. Some of the departments have built structures on greenbelts in their parking lots, violating the by-laws of the civic agency. Paying nominal charges to the CDA, they are enjoying this big facility. A senior member of Citizens' Committee Islamabad, M K Sufi, asks the CDA to create parking areas in other places or within commercial places, instead of green belts. "If the CDA keeps doing this, there will no greenbelt in Islamabad." Underground parking facility, he said, was rare in commercial buildings as in many cases it had been turned into shops. "One cannot see any plaza in Blue Area having its own underground car parking facility," he said. As the number of cars is going up sharply in the capital, it needs places for parking them. More than 150 vehicles are being registered every day in Islamabad as the city has around 250,000 registered vehicles. Four years ago the CDA had decided to construct three parking plazas in Blue Area, but did nothing to execute the project.