Islamabad’s 50 Years: Master Plan?

Islamabad is celebrating its golden jubilee this year. General Ayub Khan, who overthrew a democratic
government and imposed the first martial law in 1958, decided in 1960 to move capital from Karachi to a
rugged and hilly area north of Rawalpindi. The reason was simple, he just wanted to break the
hegemony of the predominantly Mohajir Civil Service and the fact that, Pakistani military headquarters
were in Rawalpindi and Karachi (the first capital of Pakistan as chosen by its egalitarian founders) was
1,000 miles away from his power base. The move was political and to this day some people have not
adjusted well with this development.

Work on the new capital began during the 1960s. The planning and construction was largely headed by
the Greek urban planner Constantinos A. Doxiadis. His master plan revolved around the building of the
city in sectors, each containing four sub-sectors separated by green belts and parks. There was a strong
emphasis on greenery and open space.

While the city officials implemented the master plan in the start, they sidestepped one of the major
strategies of building overpasses and interchanges. The original master plan envisaged an
underpass/overpass at every road intersection; none was constructed by the city authorities until very
recently. The famous Greek architect had envisioned Islamabad as a car-friendly city and subsequent
changes to this plan also continued with this assumption. They forgot that majority of Islamabad's
population was and still is of lower rank government officials and their families that were/are entirely
dependent on public transport. The lack of mass transit has resulted in a total mess on roads. There are
a few private buses and mini vans but they are unable to bear the burden of hundreds of thousands of
commuters. One can see long queues of commuters at bus stops during morning and evening rush
hours.

Ironically, even after 50 years of its establishment half of Islamabad is yet to be developed as more than
half of its residential sectors in the urban area could not be developed due to certain reasons.

People are still facing acute water scarcity in the city which aggravates in summer. Many residential
neighborhoods now rely on water supply through tankers; they charge exorbitant rates for this job that
is actually the responsibility of civic authorities. Many have dug wells in their homes to meet the
shrinking water supplies; they have constructed additional rooms and garages on government land.
Even people living in government quarters have violated building bylaws as there is practically no
implementation and no authority.

While the civic infrastructure is in shambles and Islamabad is slowly turning into just-another-third-
world-city, CDA has coined a new phrase: Islamabad, the beautiful. One can see dozens of hoardings and
banners displaying this catchphrase and advertisements being published in newspapers. Advertising
certainly works big, canceling out the negative vibes and concealing ground realities. People from other
cities of Pakistan get a shock of their lives when they visit Islamabad and cannot even find a public bus to
move around. Most of them ultimately head out to the nearby hill resort of Murree as they find it near
impossible to pay stupendously high taxi fares and mind boggling hotel rates. There is lack of
entertainment features too. Islamabad is perhaps the only capital in the world with no cinema, no
theater and no amusement park.

Perhaps the only saving grace of Islamabad are the residential areas of the high and mighty. One would
find carpeted roads, 'functioning' sewerage systems and adequate supply of water. The third world
trend of urban/class segregation is working fine for Islamabad. There are two worlds: one for the 'it'
crowd and the other for the masses.

Cities evolve and face countless problems but the lack of urban planning spoils everything. Islamabad,
once known as the city that was "10 miles outside of Pakistan" due to its superb urban planning, is now
a living example of political maneuvering and bureaucratic red-tape. A city of over one million people
can't be run by a few government officials. It needs an elected body and representation of its
inhabitants. Otherwise, Islamabad will become another rundown and forgotten city of the developing
world.

Hamad Ullah Mangrio