Urban Planning in Chitral is inevitable now

For the last few years change in lifestyle and social infrastructure is going to take place very rapidly in Chital. The tunnelising of Lowari pass and the new road and the bypass in Chitral which are under construction yet incomplete due to snail paced work progress ; is not the matter of discussion of the present writer, are the major symptoms of development in Chitral particularly and other parts of Chitral generally.

Major cities of Pakistan like Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar are the case locations help to visualize the ill-planning and its possible adverse impact on life, property and social life. The need of the hour is that time demands infrastructural response to the possible challenges will emerge few years later similarly in other urban areas the people are facing. For adapting urban life in congruent with the scenic beauty, social life, culture and environment needs and conditions following steps should be taken are as follows.

1. A Chitral development Committee should be founded. Its members should include the head and senior engineer of PWD and TMAs in public sector, senior engineers of NGOs like AKPBSP and others in private sector, urban planning and building expert engineers of Chitral, senior veteran citizens of building and culture in Chitral headed by DCO as its Chairman.

2. The membership of CDC public members should be permanent and the members of private sector should be non- permanent. The senior members of the society should be given as observer status in the committee.

3. Decision making power of this committee should be on mutual consensus through voting. Voting right should be given to all members equally without extra points. The chairman of the committee should not have right to vote only in case of vote tie.
4. Committee should strictly follow building rules enforced and followed by the development authorities in the country and frame extra rules of construction of buildings in the context of Chitral keeping in mind the social life, culture and beauty of Chitral.

5. Committee should take notice of selling of lands to right people. It should also oversee the construction of roads, sanitation system, market site, entertainment locations and their constructions away from market and closer to the social life.
6. Committee should enforce strictly building design, open spaces in between buildings or set offs, road, electricity and other poles, sanitation channels and water supply system through canals and pipelines.

7. Committee should also ensure the material standardization, is used in the building and confer certificate of durability and resiliency after its construction to the owner.

8. After tendering certificate without any major upheaval or burst, building collapses, committee should be responsible to construct it with the disbursement of public fund and getting the support of donors with the help of the NGOs in private sector.

9. While providing services to the area in the field of building and construction, committee should collect service charges on each building on the basis of set rules. This money should be used for the facilitation of the committee engineer’s and overseer’s the working progress and standard.

10. Committee should encourage low income friendly residential plots and arrange house financing loans with the help of such banks which are providing loans on manageable terms and interest for low income people.
11. Chitral development Committee must provide civic and social infrastructure to the society members so that he or she is encourage to build his house.

These steps must be taken for the preservation and perpetuation of the scenic beauty of Chitral and its culture. Chitral is getting polluted day by day; this planning in construction will curb this emerging problem as well. Social life could not be disturbed while constructing markets away from the colony and offices.
The arrival of designated development authority to Chitral, I know, will be too late for formally monitoring and initiating building and construction activities, therefore , establishment of this committee is indispensable for innovative and urbanely beautification of Chitral.

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