Hyderabad: The Sindh government has decided to develop a master plan for 15 districts in the province, a news source reported. The Sindh Planning and Development (P&D) department will undertake the said work. The Sindh government had previously announced to develop master plans for Karachi and Sukkur.
During a marathon consultation workshop held in Hyderabad, the officials in attendance presented tentative master plans for the said districts. A team from the directorate of urban policy & strategic planning and EA Consulting (Pvt) Limited also briefed the officials with regard to different governmental departments in the districts. These included the districts of Dadu, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, and Jamshoro.
The directorate’s Deputy Director Zulfiqar Ali stated that the team is preparing master plans for 15 towns in 14 districts of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, and Shaheed Benazirabad divisions. Reportedly, the master plans’ execution work will be divided into two phases. The first phase will last for five years, while the second one will continue till 2037. During the five years of the first phase, the authorities concerned will conduct rehabilitation work on the existing infrastructure.
Overall, the master plans dictate the development of land for future housing, government offices, education, health, recreation, commercial projects, trade, industry, religious places, treatment and disposal of water, sewage & solid waste, transportation infrastructure, and graveyards.
The plans will also cover the rehabilitation of existing roads, and construction of drainage & water supply infrastructure.
In terms of suggestions, one official of the P&D department said that the provincial government should ban all instances of land-use change from agriculture to residential, or residential to commercial.
