Park life
CDA has seemingly conceded defeat in battle to keep capital’s parks pristine
In Islamabad, the agency responsible for municipal administration, the Capital Development Authority (CDA), has seemingly conceded defeat in the battle to keep the capital’s parks pristine, or at least not appearing to be an affront to the eye.
Among the city’s most-visited recreational spaces, Fatima Jinnah Park, also referred to as F-9 Park, has many patches where the grass is tall enough for a young child or short adult to get lost in. The situation is even worse in smaller parks, where broken swings and slides seem inspired more by Dante’s Inferno rather than Dr Seuss.
Now, the CDA plans to effectively give away public parks to private parties willing to develop them. The only condition is that instead of charging money from visitors, the private parties will be allowed to advertise at ‘specific locations’ in the parks. All well and good, if only there was any precedent for this happening.
The CDA previously gave control of eight out of 17 cricket grounds to private parties, a curiously large number of whom are either Islamabad Cricket Association officials or journalists. The grounds were supposed to remain public, but are instead restricted to private parties which charge high amounts as ground rent. Even that might be acceptable if not for the fact that entrance is often banned for people who just want to walk around the outfield, and a few of the parks are the only reasonably-sized open areas in their respective sectors.
Incidentally, for decades, the CDA ‘gave’ many unsellable plots to the high and mighty of the city to develop into small parks. Most of these plots have since been converted by the homeowners into private lawns, sometimes with gunmen guarding them. The CDA recently expressed inability to get those plots back.
The CDA keeps complaining that it has no money to do the things it is mandated to do, yet it hires expensive generators whenever the power bill goes over due, pays millions to upgrade and renovate staff residences and willingly pays for damages caused to official cars by the offspring of senior staff who illegally use state property. These are only the highlights of the last three years. A more complete list of misdeeds would require a book, not a few column inches.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2014.
Among the city’s most-visited recreational spaces, Fatima Jinnah Park, also referred to as F-9 Park, has many patches where the grass is tall enough for a young child or short adult to get lost in. The situation is even worse in smaller parks, where broken swings and slides seem inspired more by Dante’s Inferno rather than Dr Seuss.
Now, the CDA plans to effectively give away public parks to private parties willing to develop them. The only condition is that instead of charging money from visitors, the private parties will be allowed to advertise at ‘specific locations’ in the parks. All well and good, if only there was any precedent for this happening.
The CDA previously gave control of eight out of 17 cricket grounds to private parties, a curiously large number of whom are either Islamabad Cricket Association officials or journalists. The grounds were supposed to remain public, but are instead restricted to private parties which charge high amounts as ground rent. Even that might be acceptable if not for the fact that entrance is often banned for people who just want to walk around the outfield, and a few of the parks are the only reasonably-sized open areas in their respective sectors.
Incidentally, for decades, the CDA ‘gave’ many unsellable plots to the high and mighty of the city to develop into small parks. Most of these plots have since been converted by the homeowners into private lawns, sometimes with gunmen guarding them. The CDA recently expressed inability to get those plots back.
The CDA keeps complaining that it has no money to do the things it is mandated to do, yet it hires expensive generators whenever the power bill goes over due, pays millions to upgrade and renovate staff residences and willingly pays for damages caused to official cars by the offspring of senior staff who illegally use state property. These are only the highlights of the last three years. A more complete list of misdeeds would require a book, not a few column inches.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2014.