The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has requested the engineer-in-chief (E-in-C) branch of the army to conduct a hydrological survey of zones II, III, IV and V in Islamabad to avoid flooding in the future.
The federal capital faces high flood hazards due to the torrential downpours. This result in rapid flooding as well as flooding of already-existing canals, low-lying areas, and newly constructed waterways. Therefore, it was decided to immediately conduct a hydrological survey of zone II, III, IV and V with the assistance of the HGK Directorate of Design Consultancy Engineer-in-Chief in order to protect the lives and property of people in Islamabad’s urban areas.
Sources said that the issuance of NOCs for building development in the said zones has been suspended till the conclusion of a hydrological study. However, the process of processing NOC applications on a conditional basis has been permitted to continue.
In this regard, the CDA’s Planning and Design Department’s letter state that the ENC Branch of the Pakistan Army conducted a hydrological survey of Sector E-11 of Islamabad after the monsoon rains in the summer of 2021 caused catastrophic destruction there. The CDA has just received the results of the survey. During the study that recommendations had been forwarded to the CDA’s Planning, Design, and Engineering Wing. As a result, a hydrological analysis has to be done immediately in Islamabad to protect lives and property from waterways in the city’s urban areas due to the rapidly changing scenario of flooding in waterways and drains and the rapid flow of water, the letter said.
CDA Chairman Amir Ali Ahmed, while giving immediate permission, has directed that NOCs for new buildings in the said zones should not be issued until the survey was complete. However, the relevant departments should continue working on their files under certain conditions.
It has been reported that a copy of the hydrological study report has also been sent to the registrar of Cooperative Societies Islamabad Capital Territory by the relevant GHQ branch.
According to sources, the study also revealed that the Planning and Engineering Department of the Private Housing Societies issued LOPs and NOCs in the past, and certain CDA officers benefitted from irregularities or violations of the law, which led to the narrowing of Islamabad’s rivers and canals and the demolition of residential homes, which caused the waterways to become narrower for the required drainage of rainwater and also limited it the space to make ‘China-cutting’.
It said that thousands of plots have been built and sold by the so-called large-scale private sector, and the suspected officials in the CDA’s planning and engineering department.
The sources said that the majority of private societies had been established since 1995 but in some cases, naive people could not obtain a roof despite depositing money.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2022.
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