A megacity in the making?

KARACHI: A new city is to be created in Thatta by the Sindh government. The government has decided to follow what they call Singapore’s style of development.

They have completed plans for a city spread across 200,000 acres of land, with visions of flyovers, highways and ‘all facilities that a developed city should have’. The government has also started handing out contracts for construction to different companies in Japan. The land where the city is to be set up has been demarcated and finalised.

Officials in the Zulfiqarabad Development Authority said that the request for the allotment of land has been put before the Board of Revenue. The new city will also have an industrial zone, residential projects, universities, schools, colleges, parks and shopping centres, officials said. Fun at Keenjhar Another development project is being planned for a Rs200- million recreational centre near Keenjhar Lake. It will be located on 850 acres, for which the government has submitted an application to the revenue board.

Under a public-private partnership, the government will follow Malaysian and Singaporean designs to include water sports, a cinema, golf club, playground, hotels and shopping centres at the Keenjhar spot, officials revealed. The Sindh government has also banned the allotment of land surrounding the lake so that their plans for the centre are not compromised by any other project. According to officials, President Asif Ali Zardari will also be briefed by the departments of irrigation and power, planning and development and finance about these projects.

The report and detailed plans will be presented to him on Monday. Sindh Chief Secretary Fazlur Rehman, Board of Revenue Senior Member Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha and Zulfiqar Development Authority Director-General General (retd) SP Shahid will also brief the president about the projects underway in Lyari and Karachi.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 16th, 2010.