The decades-old sewerage system in the federal capital will deteriorate further as the Capital Development Authority has permitted the construction of high-rise buildings but has so far failed to allocate funds for the up-gradation of the sewage system. “The civic agency has neither allocated funds for the up-gradation of the sewerage system in the current financial year’s budget nor has shown any intention to allocate funds for this purpose in the next year’s budget”, a CDA official told Pakistan Today.
The official said that the capital’s sewerage system was not compatible with high-rise buildings and the CDA should have upgraded it before revising the original master plan of the city to allow for construction of buildings with more than four storeys. “Pressure on the current sewerage system started when the CDA allowed construction of six-storey buildings on the southern side of Jinnah Avenue,” he said.
The official said that during Benazir Bhutto’s second term as prime minister, the CDA was strictly directed to ban the construction of high-rise buildings in Blue Area and follow the original master plan. The ban continued for a few years but the CDA again allowed the construction of multi-storey buildings once the government changed, he added.
The official said that the present sewerage system would not be able to support the increased sewerage load in case more high-rise buildings were constructed. He asked the authorities concerned to review the town plan and come up with a solution to this problem.
