Heart of the outskirts: Surprise for suburbia as Park Road becomes ‘downtown’

CDA mulls multipurpose high-rise project named Downtown Park Road.

ISLAMABAD:

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is planning to launch a residential-cum-commercial project on the city’s outskirts, curiously named Downtown Park Road.

Located along Park Road near COMSATS University and Chak Shahzad, the project will be the ‘first-of-its-kind in the capital’ according to a senior planning wing official.

The details of plan were also shared with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a few days ago during a presentation given to him by the CDA on current and future development projects in Islamabad.

“The project will see mixed-use development, which is a combination of multi-storey corporate and residential structures,” said the official.

It is premature to comment on the development as it is still in the early planning stages, he said, adding that the project will be established on a 454 kanal patch. So far, a site which is clear of encroachments and other possession issues has been identified.

Initial building parameters for high-rise buildings in the area says commercial buildings will be allowed to build up to 13 floors --- ground plus 12 --- while residential apartments will be limited to ground plus 10.

The building parameters for the area would also offer in-built parking solutions, the official added.

There will be eight large commercial plots and nine residential plots.

The authority has also come up with lucrative revenue generation estimates. “It will make the CDA around Rs22 billion, according to the presentation document given to the premier,” the official said, adding that the final costing of the project is yet to be done.

The civic agency hopes to earn some Rs18 billion from commercial plots, while the rest would come from residential apartment plots, he informed.

The official said it has yet to be decided whether the authority would only sell the plots or if a public-private partnership option will be pursued.

A hurdle still stands in the path to the latter option, as a draft amendment to the CDA Ordinance, relating to the civic agency’s right to enter joint ventures with private firms --- is still pending approval from the federal cabinet.

The draft amendment was sent to the cabinet after a 2011 Supreme Court order struck down a deal between the authority and the privately-owned Multi Professional Cooperative Housing Society over the development of 54 acres along the northern strip of Sector E-11.

The court was of the view that the CDA Ordinance does not allow the authority to pursue ventures with private firms on state land.

The private firm was supposed to take control of encroached pockets in E-11 and later develop the area along mixed-use conceptual lines.

A number of CDA’s projects have recently been put on the backburner due to delays in cabinet approval of the draft amendment. The incumbent management is of the view that the future of the CDA depends on the initiation of projects public-private partnership projects.

The CDA planning member was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2014.