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CLIFTON BEACH

• ‘Stop the sale of Karachi’s public beaches’
• Saving Karachi's beaches

• Former CJ voices doubts over beachfront privatisation

• Dirty Deals

• Waterfront project does not take poor into account

• The natural assets of Karachi have been completely usurped by the rich

• Save the Beach

• Vendors at seashore

• Handing over Clifton Beach to ‘profiteers’ slammed

• Federal govt’s project on twin islands opposed: Fisherfolk to launch movement

• Fishermen to fight against two new island cities

• Go-ahead for island city near Karachi

• Carving up the beach

• DHA plans for commercial plazas at beach opposed

• Beach Development

• Ruffled DHA seeks PRO for vexed beach project

• DHA, KPT projects along beach criticized

• Urban planners just concerned with financial benefits

• Clifton Beach: Ghariboon ka Sahil, Ameeron Ka Sahil

• Clifton Beach: Shrinking for the Poor

• The battering of our beaches

• Beach Fences

• Road closure irks people

• An unending municipal scam: CITYSCAPES

• Bagh-e-Ibn-e-Qasim project

• PM reviews progress on Jahangir Kothari parade renovation

• Lack of investment policy mars CDGK’s projects

• CDGK to launch Rs273m development projects

• Fountain for the poor, beaches for the rich

• Not alternative but to soldier on

• Citizens to legally fight DHA plans to sell beach

(20 June 2005)

The Defence Housing Authority has taken over the Clifton Beach and developed it from McDoland’s to the Salt and Pepper Restaurant. A stone embankment wall has been built on which people can sit and view the sea; a well paved service lane and parking for cars have been provided; on a one kilometre stretch steps leading to the beach have been built on which attractive seating arrangements for visitors have been developed; well designed kiosks supplying food and drinks have been placed along the promenade; and in addition, flood lights now light the entire beach. This development is indeed a valuable addition to Karachi’s recreational facilities. Thousands of people, old and young, men, women and children, visit it every week and enjoy themselves. Yet, there is a down side to this development and this piece is all about that down side.

While I was walking one day along the beautifully designed promenade I saw two persons in blue uniform manhandling a pappar wala. They had taken away his pappar bag. They were dragging him away by his hair and cursing him. On inquiry, I was told by the uniformed men that they were DHA security persons and they had orders not to permit vendors from frequenting the beach between McDoland’s and the Salt and Pepper Restaurant. “But if vendors are not permitted then what can people buy for food?” I inquired. The uniformed persons responded that they can purchase food from the kiosks provided by the DHA. Since I had purchased from the kiosks, I knew that it was far too expensive for poor families to afford. Immediately, it occurred to me that by banishing vendors from the beach the DHA had also banished the poor. I requested the Urban Resource Centre (URC) to initiate a small research on the subject and I made some further enquiries myself.

The research and enquiries reveal that the DHA has banned all chabbari walas, ketley chai walas, pappar walas, channa and mongphalli walas, bunder ka tamasha walas and jogis from the beach. The only food now available along the DHA occupied stretch is at the kiosks set up by the DHA, the Pizza Express outlet which is located in a container on the promenade, and the Walls Ice Cream mobile which is permitted to operate on the beach. The prices of food and drinks from these outlets are unaffordable to poor and lower middle income families. A comparison of these prices and what is available at the two locations is given in the attached Box. As a result, the poor no longer frequent the DHA occupied stretch of Clifton Beach. They now visit the beach accessed from the Jahangir Kothari Parade. Unlike the DHA occupied beach, there are no cars parked along this stretch. The people who visit it are visibly more badly dressed, comparatively under nourished, wearing inferior clothes and with children who often do not wear shoes. The difference is startling. However, this stretch of beach is more colourful as there are camels, horses and rehris all beautifully decorated and women too wear reds and oranges and bright blues. There are places at the exit of the beach where there are arrangements for washing your feet and shoes.

Muhammad Shoaib visits this stretch of beach every Sunday with his five children and his wife. He comes all the way from Baldia. He does not go to the DHA occupied stretch although he says that it is much more attractive and he would love to go there but if he goes there and gives in to his children’s demands, he will end up spending more than 200 Rupees. If on the other hand, he does not give in to his children’s demand, they will be unhappy and will look down on him. In addition, unlike before the place has changed and he feels uncomfortable there since people like him no longer visit that stretch of beach. He says that the DHA occupied beach is now called Ameeron ka Sahil and the stretch that he now frequents is called Gharaiboon ka Sahil.

Tasnim teaches at a government school. She is 22 years old and lives in Baloch Colony. She and her friends visit Gharaiboon ka Sahil regularly but they prefer the DHA occupied stretch. When they receive their salaries at the beginning of the month, they visit Ameeron ka Sahil and enjoy spending some of what they have earned.

Both Tasnim and Muhammad Shoaib have heard that the entire beach is going to be developed for rich people. These rumours are floating around the sea front. They are worried that they and their families will loose the only inexpensive recreational area left in the city. “Wherever you go now you have to pay. Travel costs have become high. At Allauddin Park and at Fun Land they rob you. Where should poor people take their families?” asks Muhammad Shoaib. He adds “why do they not just gather us together and throw their atom bomb on us? It would be easier for them and for us.”

Meanwhile, the pappar, chai, channa walas still try and operate on the sly on the DHA occupied beach. When they are caught by the DHA “daroghas” they are cursed, beaten and their goods taken or thrown away. Another punishment that is meted out is to put them in a car and leave them far away at a lonely spot so that they have to walk back. Many of the chabbari walas are young boys in their early teens and URC interviews of them show that they come from the very poor backgrounds and some of them have to borrow money on a daily basis to be able to purchase their sellable items. Altaf is 16 years old and sells pappar. He has been caught twice by the daroghas. I asked him as to why he does not sell at the Gharaiboon ka Sahil. He responds that there are already too many people selling there and also that he has been selling on this beach since he was 7 years old. He feels he has a claim to sell here. In addition, he says that the people selling on the other beach will not allow him to sell there since it would affect their sales adversely. He wants to know if the DHA daroghas have the right to treat the vendors as they do. “They are not the police, they are not the law, but then where can a poor man seek justice? If I go to the police, they will lock me up.”

There is also a bunder wala. He is over 55 years of age. His bunder’s (monkey’s) name is Aloo Master. He says that he has performed on this beach for more than 25 years. He cannot do that anymore. He also feels that both he and Aloo Master have a claim on this stretch of beach. “Rich people do not like poor people but they do like animals. For Aloo Master’s sake they should let us perform. I can hardly feed him now. He puts with starvation without complaining for he understands the problem. For the poor there is no sunwai.”

Karachi has lost all its multi-class recreational and entertainment places. Saddar, the old town institutional and community buildings and spaces, cinemas, have all gone. They have been the victims of massive environmental degradation, absence of social and cultural considerations in urban planning, and an elite that has chosen to ghettoize itself out of fear and ignorance and in the process it has usurped the city’s natural assets for its own benefit. Clifton Beach has been an exception to this, but not any more.

The DHA occupied beach can be given back its multi-class environment without adversely affecting the facilities and ambiance that the DHA has provided. Chabbri walas and vendors can be provided special spaces within which they can operate and areas can be reserved for bunder and snake ka tamashas. If the poor and rich cannot share public space, then we are heading for major conflicts similar to those in Johannesburg and Rio de Janeiro and the rich will be as much the victims as the poor.

Box: A comparison of Rates: Survey of Clifton and Sea View (DHA Occupied) Beach

Source: Urban Resource Centre Survey.

Bagh Ibne Qasim Ist phase completed

BY JAMIL KHAN

KARACHI - The first phase of the multimillion Bagh Ibne Qasim project had been completed and the remaining was expected to be completed in February 2006, said District Officer, Parks and Horticulture, Liaquat Ali Khan on Saturday. 

Talking to The Nation, DO Liaquat Ali said that the first phase of the project would be opened for public on November 26 and President General Pervez Musharraf was likely to inaugurate it.
He said that the project worth Rs 600 million, including construction of funland, aquarium, beach park, parking lots and others was started in July this year and would be completed at the end of February 2006. 

DO Liaquat said that the project of Bagh Ibne Qasim was one of the projects which had been in limbo for the last 30 years but the caretaker City government took a bold step to start work on the project on the instruction of Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ebad. 

“This will be a great achievement of the caretaker administration,” he said adding that not only the Karachiites but also the entire Pakistanis would have a big recreational park.”
“We are also planning to include other facilities like dolphin pool, mono train, skating there.”.

Before the beginning of the project, the City government had removed about 400 shops and other structures that had been constructed illegally there, he said adding that this was the only largest project which would be completed in six months, he said.

Responding to a question, he said that about 50 per cent of work on the park had been completed, and the remaining would be finished in February, as various contractors were working round-the-clock to complete it on time.

He further said that the Beach Park had been constructed on 47 acres of land at the cost of Rs 260 million. The facilities included pathways, domes of the pattern of Kothari Parade, concrete benches, marble canopies, electric floodlights, fencing, and playing ground for the children, he added. He further said that the work on the construction of pathways, jogging tracks, domes of the pattern of Kothari Parade, benches, electric lights, fencing and playing area of children was in progress and the entire area would be open for public soon. 

The development work at aquarium and funland was also underway and the these would be completed in February. 

The funland, which had existed in the middle of Bagh Ibne Qasim, had now been shifted at one of the sides of the park to provide a maximum space for children so that they had maximum amusement. 

He also mentioned that in the whole area there would be six parking spaces to park around 3,000 vehicles, saying that 50 per cent work had been completed on this project. 

The City District Government Karachi has decided to auction the food court and parking spaces on short-term lease. 

(Daily The Nation 20/11/05 )

The battering of our beaches

AS announced in the headline over a news item in this newspaper on February 7, ‘The Supreme Court puts public interest over private profit.’ The previous day, a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry cancelled a lease awarded by the Capital Development Authority to a Lahore businessman who had planned to develop a mini-golf club in a public park in Sector F-7, Islamabad.

The chief justice stressed that the laws of the CDA are clear: public parks, graveyards, incidental open spaces, etc., will be developed by the authority only and he advised the CDA that if it allowed people to haphazardly start commercial activities in public spaces it would “repent not adhering to its original policy.”

Now, the ocean foreshore of Karachi is the heritage of all Pakistanis, including our future generations, held as a public trust by the government of the day. It is non-sustainable; once it is gone, it is gone. The city’s population is increasing by 500,000 a year. We need all our beaches to cater for increased recreational needs.

Beaches are not a luxury. They are public spaces that provide a different set of rhythms for the renewal of public life. Beaches are democratic commons that bring people together to stroll, to paddle, swim, splash in the waves, ‘watch’ the surf, and gaze into the sunset. Public access to the beach is integral to democracy and equality.

Karachi is almost destitute of parks and playgrounds and open spaces. It has fewer acres of such spaces per 1,000 residents as compared to any major city in the developed world. There are also vast disparities in the access to parks and recreation. In middle and low-income areas citizens do not have, near enough, open spaces in their neighbourhoods — but they do have more than their fair share of toxic waste and pollutants. The middle and lower-income groups, to be able to breathe, throng to our public beaches on public holidays and weekends.

What atrocity has already been perpetrated on the Clifton beach? The city government has built two parallel parapets which hide the sea from public view. Parapets are normally hip-high as were the parapets built by Sir Jehangir Kothari in 1912, still standing for all to emulate. What our city government, obsessed with size, has built is head-high. Why? Could it be to enrich the brick makers and layers? The factotums responsible need to do something to rectify this folly. How the citizens have reacted can be gauged from the number of letters to the editors of all our newspapers that have appeared in print, all objecting strongly to the fact that the sea has been obliterated from the much vaunted park by the sea.

And further folly from our MQM Minister for Ports & Shipping, Babar Ghauri. Whilst once in Jeddah on one of the many ‘official’ visits our ministers indulge in, he spotted a water jet spouting high into the air in front of the royal palaces. In search of glory, he ordered the Karachi Port Trust to have it replicated in Karachi’s sea, without bothering about how much it would cost to purchase, instal and operate. Who has it enriched, and on which continent? Ghauri’s approach is totally in line with the ministerial norm, but what we must have difficulty in believing is that not one of the dozen or so KPT trustees, who hold the people’s money in trust, recorded a note of dissent.

It was ‘wah-wah, minister sahib’ all the way — there was not one man amongst them. This has also enraged a large number of citizens who have publicly in print expressed their disgust — one excellent thing is that now people are becoming aware of their rights and of their government’s extravaganzas and waste of public funds and are loudly and clearly voicing their discontent.

Now to the real danger. In April 2005, five concerned citizens of the Defence Housing Authority approached the Sindh High Court (CP 403/05) seeking to save a section of the beach, the 13-acre ‘Usmani Park’ (between Beach Avenue and the sea) from being converted into a gigantic shopping, entertainment and residential project. In January 2006, the NGO Shehri intervened in the petition and has placed a number of facts on record. It has been pointed out that if the DHA is allowed to get away with this ‘privatization’ of the public beach, it will not be too long before attempts are made to exploit and privatize the other few amenities, spaces and facilities that are left to us — even perhaps the very air we breathe.

The petition states that the sea-shore conversion project is in violation of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997. Increased commercialization will cause pollution, destroy marine micro-organisms, and will result in the extinction or mass reduction of fish, turtles, and coastal birds, and also in the depletion of the sea-food industry. Additionally, a Sindh government notification of May 1975 prohibits the leasing of land within the area of the ports or sea shore limits. The beaches around the DHA are within the port limits of the Karachi Port Trust and the Port Qasim Authority.

DHA has a grand plan to convert 14 km of “virgin, unspoilt (sic) waterfront” (quoted in a DHA newsletter) into a $-600 million series of playgrounds and leisure/pleasure spots called the “DHA Waterfront Development Project” to afford the rich and affluent of Karachi “the luxuries of an aristocratic life”. This extravaganza consists of seven Zones (A to G) with expensive commercial, entertainment, residential, commercial, hotel and office buildings, and includes “reclamation of 74.5 acres of land, for high-end Hotel Complex”, “5-star hotels owning private segments of the beach” and a “private beach with lagoon for hotel & residential blocks”.

Apparently, various MOUs have been entered into with local and foreign parties to ‘privatize’ and ‘develop’ the seashore. Such extravaganzas will disenfranchise 95 per cent of the residents of Karachi from over 30 per cent of the 42-km urban beachfront of their city.

In the Zone-A, Usmani Park plot, three structures, have been planned for construction by a developer: a five-storey (900,000 sq ft) shopping mall and entertainment complex with hyper-market, cineplex, ice-skating rink, food court, retail shops, gaming arcade, and so on; a 50-storey commercial office tower, and a 50-storey hotel and apartment tower. In keeping with the norm, no thought has been given to the traffic and parking chaos that will be generated, nor of the unbearable load on the utilities — water, electricity and sewerage, etc. Additionally, the view of the sea of all houses along Beach Avenue will be blocked.

In December 2005, the DHA invited expressions of interest for development of a 48-acre recreational Zone-B (located between MacDonald’s and Kinara restaurants, in front of Seaview Apartments) which includes a 600-ft. high ‘Monumental Tower’ and an amphitheatre on reclaimed land.

Public access to the beach is protected under the public trust doctrine. Beaches enjoy a special amenity status with all the protection that the law affords to public amenity land. In recent years, the protests of citizens about the commercialization of beaches along the Clifton sea-shore and beyond have been mounting, but are totally ignored by the rapaciously greedy DHA and the concerned government authorities.

The outcome of the petition will determine whether or not only the rich and powerful have the right to the benefit of the Almighty’s bounty and will establish whether or not the wealthy and influential can usurp for their selfish private use a natural facility and resource that should by right be enjoyed by each and every citizen without distinction.

(Daily Dawn February 19, 2006)

Beach fences

FOR a long time Clifton beach has been the most popular recreation spot for Karachiites and those coming from upcountry. This beach, in continuation with Bagh Ibne Qasim, has been lying undeveloped for decades. It is the only sizeable Karachi beach left over by the land mafia. (It is learnt that Bagh Ibn-i-Qasim was 150 acres and is now down to only 80 acres.)

Recently I was taken aback to notice that one won’t be able to have a view of the sea any more while driving on the double road running parallel to the bank of the sea as two parallel fencing walls have been raised in between. The town planners (KDA) of the good old days had very wisely taken a policy decision that no such structures would be allowed in the area between “Hawa Bandar” (helipad area) and the sea that may impede a clear view of the sea. The city government is now defying its own rules.

The strip of land alongside the coast at Clifton was reserved by KDA planners as elbow room for free and easy movement of crowds and for provision of sitting, relaxing and camping facilities. By constructing walls around these belts, the very purpose of this space has been defeated and thereby adversely affected the beauty and utility of the beach.

As regards Bagh Ibne Qasim, a fence of the same design is being constructed around it also. Here the purpose of having a boundary wall is different. It should provide security and check trespass. The design and height do not cater for either of these requirements. Proper maintenance of the park, therefore, will be difficult.

UMER FAROOQUE KHAN Karachi Daily Dawn November 13, 2005

KARACHI: Thousands of citizens, who came at the Clifton beach during Eid days, faced number of hardships due to the closure of various roads, leading to the venue.

Likewise every year, a large number of people came to Clifton from every area of the city for spending their holiday. However, this year they faced immense problems while reaching the area, as they found a number of roads closed. Many of the visitors, including children and women, left their vehicles to reach their destination on foot.

Officials, however, described the closure of roads as a precautionary measure for stopping people to visit Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim and Beach Park, which were under construction. They claimed that in order to avoid any inconvenience to the people, they had made prior announcement regarding closure of some roads. They maintained that many roads leading to Sea View were opened for vehicular traffic.

People said that the closure of roads should be publicised properly and the authorities concerned must devise an alternate routes.

(Daily The News 7/11/05)

An unending municipal scam: CITYSCAPES

By Fahim Zaman Khan

HOW does one report an unending municipal scam without annoying the beneficiaries or the self-serving rulers? The ongoing saga in Bagh-i-Ibn Qasim, located below Jehangir Kothari Parade, concerning more than 80 acres of prime Clifton land at Scheme V is one more tale of wholesale fraud, con and swindle of our successive rulers and mandarins of civic agencies. This sad spectacle of pillage and corruption continues unabated even today.

The record of land allotments pertaining to Bagh-i-Ibn Qasim at the defunct KMC or the KDA may be as elusive as grass in that park. The little record in the form of duplicate files available with the estate department may be useful to the extent of renewal of lease, yet nothing contained within them may corroborate what exists on the ground. Nor does anything on the existing statues allow disposal of this precious asset as being currently hatched.

At least on paper the defunct KMC’s original share in the development of Bagh-i-Ibn Qasim was limited to about four acres of ‘Terraced gardens, Aquarium and an Aquatic Park.’ No doubt, an aquarium and terraced gardens were developed by the KMC, however the rooftop was quickly allotted to ‘the Kishtiwallas,’ well known for their Jamaat connection, and so were 3,000 square yards of land out of the space earmarked for an aquatic park. With further allotments of 6,000 square yards, during PB Gillani’s administration and by the KMC councils during the mid-1980s, the fate of the aquatic park was sealed forever. Many old-timers bet their life that the original KMC files missing from the record could be recovered from under lock and key of the promoters/beneficiaries of the Funland that now probably spreads over 20 acres of land that no employee of the City District Government Karachi is willing to measure or document.

The KDA or its masters could not afford to risk their reputation by staying behind the KMC. Several plots of land with a commercial value of more than hundred thousand rupees per square yard were allotted in violation of universally-accepted laws and norms governing sanctity of public parks and playgrounds. For example, ST-1/A was created out of 7,972 square yards of parkland and allotted at the rate of Rs17.50 per square yard for a swimming pool, 25,000 square yards as ST-14 and 20,000 square yards as ST-16 were allotted at the rate of Rs40 per square yard. 4,005 square yards of parkland were allotted as ST-16/A and 18,000 sq yards as ST-16/B during 1992 at the rate of Rs250 per square yard for a museum of modern arts and a school; and 3,000 square yards were allotted as ST-17 for an acupuncture clinic at the rate of Rs30 per square yard.

Many buildings and structures, including a private school and a restaurant, allotted in Bagh-i-Ibn Qasim, remain functional today. The construction of Costa Livina, a highrise project being built on land originally allotted for a revolving restaurant, remains suspended due to litigation. The KDA also cancelled the allotment of 350 shops during 1996, but the six residential plots allotted to federal secretaries and high officials at the KDA nursery located within the boundaries of Bagh-i-Ibn Qasim survived cancellation probably due to kinship.

During 1994, a cash-strapped KDA transferred Bagh-i-Ibn Qasim, along with the rest of the amenities of Kehkashan Scheme V, to the KMC for maintenance purposes. The then KMC administration moved a summary to the chief minister requesting him to direct the KDA to cancel all illegal allotments made on the parkland.

Syed Abdullah Shah, then chief minister, wrote on the summary “I agree with administrator KMC, parkland must be reverted back to the city.” Subsequently, the KDA issued cancellation orders citing violation of clause Nos 6, 8 and 12 of the terms and conditions of the above allotments. The land thus acquired was also transferred to the KMC. However, the aggrieved parties immediately moved the Sindh High Court where luckily Chief Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed decided to hear those petitions himself. The KMC also moved the office of the Deputy Commissioner South to initiate acquisition proceedings for it. The matter remains pending at the Sindh High Court, while the defunct KMC and its successor has been trying to green the remaining acreage.

Last year the KDA recovered from the KMC Bagh-i-Ibn Qasim along with other parks and playgrounds in many affluent areas. The KMC had auctioned the University Road Sunday Bazaar opposite Safari Park during the year 2000 for Rs3 million. Once its control was reverted to the KDA last year this Bazaar was allowed without auction for a mere Rs600,000 and this year for Rs one million.

On 6th June 2002 our Nazim-i-Aala Naimatullah Khan signed an MoU with Sarfaraz H. Rizvi of City Trading and Contracting Company registered in Qatar for the development of a park.

What Mr. Khan and Executive District Officer Brigadier Zaheer Qadri, formerly DG KDA, do not seem to realize that as soon as this agreement is signed the parties aggrieved by the previous cancellation orders shall have a cause to move the Sindh High Court demanding restoration of their so-called cancelled properties killing the plan for a water-cum-amusement park.

After eating up huge spaces between the illegally-allotted plots the ever- enlarging Funland has now opened a gate on the park’s side. The unfolding saga of a water-cum-amusement park could well be a ploy to deprive the people of the city of a precious parkland. It may be a conspiracy by the aggrieved parties who have lost billions and billions of rupees worth of ill-gotten park property that was collectively ours. 

(Daily Dawn 27 September 2002)

KARACHI: Plans to develop the massive US$200 million Karachi Beach Theme Park Resort in Clifton have moved one stage forward with an announcement by the UK developers, Deighton International (DI), that they have now secured the necessary investment. The Chairman, Philip D. Deighton, of DI said, "Since the City District Government Karachi has awarded us the scheme, our efforts are on to sourcing the substantial funds necessary to enable this unique park to go ahead with." He went on to say, "It was now much more important for his company and the CDGK to collaborate closely to make sure this important venture becomes a success for the benefit of the people of Karachi. "Bagh-Ibn-e-Qasim is a world class site and we intend to deliver a world-class attraction," said Deighton.

(The News 24/11/05)

KARACHI: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz reviewed on Saturday the work being carried out to renovate and develop the Jahangir Kothari Parade and Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim under a mega-recreational project along the Clifton Beach.

According to a press release issued here, the Prime Minister, who visited the site, termed the work a good step for the progress of the metropolis. He appreciated the work, which according to him, would play an important role in the preservation of the city’s beauty.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan briefed the PM over the beach development project. He himself took a round of various portions of the Jahangir Kothari Parade.

He said that with the passage of time, the recreational and historical places of the city were dwindling. As such, he said he was all the more pleased to see this project. He said that there was a time people from across the country used to visit the Clifton beach and if development continued the way it is, the project would become the best recreational place not only for people of Karachi but of Pakistan.

He said that the Gwadar and other such projects showed that the government was taking all-out steps for the development and prosperity of the country.

INQUIRY: Regarding the incident in which many people were severely affected after consuming contaminated water in the Landhi area, the Prime Minister said that an inquiry was under way and he himself talked to the provincial government authorities in this regard.

(Daily The News 18 septeber 2005)

KARACHI: Billions of rupees worth investment projects hit snags due to lack of any investment policy in City District Government Karachi (CDGK).

CDGK, which launched several mega investment projects since its inception in 2001, has remained unable to formulate investment policy owing to lack of commitment on part of authorities concerned. These mega projects include Bagh-e-Ibn Qasim, Development of Beaches, Water Treatment Plant, Waste to Energy, Development of Parks, Food Street, Revival of Cottage Industrial Zones and some others.

However, very little progress has been made on these projects so far and there seems no effective strategy to expedite the pace of work on these projects.

According to details, Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim project estimated cost stands at $300 million, Waste to Energy around $200 million, Development of Beaches $800 million, Development of Parks $50 million, some other projects $200 million etc.

Sources told PPI on Monday that there are no prescribed rules and regulations for investment in CDGK, which often keep away the investors to invest in CDGK’s projects. Besides ‘One-Window’ operation necessary for facilitation of investors has to be introduced by CDGK as yet.

"A number of investors took keen interest in these projects and were ready to invest in them. However, they ran away owing to non-cooperating attitude and lack of commitment on part of CDGK’s authorities.

Another factor obstructs flow of investment is absence of any streamlining in CDGK’s departments. "Enterprise and Investment Department (E&IP), specially established to deal with investment projects under SLGO, takes any decision, but the other day, some other department comes up with the queries, that make the investors to remain away from the project," sources said.

At the time of launching of development of parks project, for instance, Parks & Horticulture Department was asked to provide a list of sites for parks. "Department provided 45 sites for the purpose, but when initial modalities were being finalised, they informed that 40 of total 45 sites are in litigation, subsequently jeopardising the whole project," they added.

Acquisition of land for projects has to pass through very lengthy and cumbersome process, facing departmental and legal obstacles.

Despite the repeated reminders of department concerned to take action in this connection, authorities have yet to come up with a concrete and long-term strategy," sources added.

(Daily The News 25 August 2004)

KARACHI: The city government is going to launch new development works worth Rs273.8 million. The approval was given during a meeting of the city government District Development Working Party, presided over by District Coordination Officer (DCO) Fazlur Rahman, at Civic Centre on Monday.

Officers concerned gave briefing to the meeting participants on new development projects, including improvement of water and sewage lines, re-carpeting of roads, beautification works under all flyovers, tree plantation in parks and main roads, etc.

It was also decided that coastal strip in front of Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim, Clifton, falling in the city government limits, would be developed to facilitate picnickers. The meeting also decided that trees would be planted in abundance in Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim.

The DCO, on the occasion, asked the parks department to submit a plan in connection with the development of coastal strip. He also asked the officers concerned to ensure the removal of all hurdles in the way of the proposed projects, so that the work could be initiated at the earliest.

Rahman said that the city government would ensure in-time completion of all the projects and would never compromise on the quality and standard of work. He asked the Executive District Officer, Works and Services, Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, to keep paying visits to the site of the projects to keep an eye on the pace and quality of work.

The EDO (Finance), Shakil Naqvi, representatives of City Nazim Engineer Saleem Azhar and Abid Ilyas, projects directors and other officers concerned also attended the meeting.

(Daily The News 7/12/04)

Fountain for the poor, beaches for the rich

Khusro Mumtaz

The federal minister for ports and shipping, Babar Khan Ghouri, like all his fellow ministers and ministers of state and the illustrious citizens of this country with the status of minister (the combined number of which is so astronomical you need a high speed computer to keep their tally and their endless perks and privileges straight), really feels for the poor and underprivileged. He feels for them so much that he’s gone and built them a 650-foot high fountain (the second highest in the world) in Karachi so that they don’t have to bear the onerous cost of travelling to Switzerland for some rest and recreation. The mystery of why Pakistan’s commercial capital had to be presented with this supreme gift has finally been solved. And I’m not making any of this up. Mr Ghouri made his declaration on the floor of the National Assembly itself.

Let’s get this straight then. People in Karachi don’t have safe drinking water and the city’s sanitation, sewage and drainage system is in the worst shape possible (witness the havoc wreaked by the recent rains) and millions of its residents are slum dwellers yet Mr. Ghouri thinks it’s a good idea to spend Rs320 million not on fixing these problems or on funding schools and health clinics for the poor but on a fountain. A fountain that when it does work (by design — reportedly — it remains inoperative for half the year) sends water shooting uselessly up into the sky so that poor people — repeat, “poor people” — can gawk at it while holding on to their starving and parched children. Brings to mind Coleridge’s lines: “Water, water everywhere / Nor a drop to drink”.

Even if we accept that this is just what the poverty-stricken multitude of Karachi has been asking for and hence is forever in the sympathetic minister’s debt somebody still needs to tell Mr Ghouri of the Defence Housing Authority’s latest scheme. The DHA has plans which are well underway for a waterfront project that, once completed, may not even let his “poor people” of the city anywhere near the fountain or the Clifton beach area. According to the DHA’s own press release of February 2005, it has initiated a US$623 million commercial (emphasis mine) project that will cover the 14-kilometre long stretch of beach from the site of the abandoned old casino up to the Golf Club.

The project envisages a “shopping mall with best entertainment facilities, a food court, a hype-market, in-line retail, covered/open car parking, gaming facilities, ground-plus six storey buildings, commercial office towers, go-kart track facilities and service apartments”. It also includes an exclusive (emphasis mine) high-rise residential complex over 10.3 acres with 50-storey towers. 74 acres of land would be reclaimed (emphasis mine) for these 50-storey residential/office monoliths, town houses, a five-star hotel (but, of course) and a “most modern amphitheatre” and “most modern and the state-of-art (sic) entertainment centre”. American and Dubai-based companies are involved in the whole enterprise.

What all this 5-star exclusivity — an offering to the gods of globalisation and commercialisation — translates to is the exclusion of poor people from a public area the use of which they are entitled to by law. Once completed, most of the project’s facilities will be free only to those who can afford to pay for it. Those who can’t (meaning Mr Ghouri’s favoured underprivileged souls), be damned. In fact, the poor are already being made to feel unwelcome. The small-time hawkers, street vendors and rehri-wallahs have been turned into persona non grata and are being deprived of their livelihoods so that multinational food chains can take their place.

Our compassionate minister Ghouri needs to be told that the poor people that he’s so concerned about don’t dream of travelling to Switzerland to look at some water fountain. What they dream about is having electricity, clean water, jobs, education, and food on the table for their families. For rest and recreation they would be happy enough to go to the beach or to a nearby public park. Lord knows Karachi needs many more public parks and green areas for its 15 million residents, particularly the underprivileged ones. How about building more public parks with public funds, Mr. Ghouri? How about ensuring continued free access to public beaches — one of the very few options available for some cheap, wholesome entertainment for the less fortunate — for those who can’t afford to be gouged for the privilege?

There are also bigger issues to be considered here. Firstly, and most importantly, it needs to be determined whether the DHA has any authority over the Clifton beach. Beaches are legally meant for the public at large. Can the DHA undertake a project which excludes a majority of the city’s population? This also raises the issue of the legality and the process of allocation of public land to the armed forces. But we’ll leave this very important discussion for a future date.

In the meantime, the DHA needs to inform the public whether it has carried out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prior to the commencement of the project. This is a requirement of the law (under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997) for projects of such magnitude. Moreover, the findings of the EIA have to be put before the general public and their opinions and concurrence sought before the project can proceed. This means that it is our right as citizens of this city and this country to participate in such a decision-making process. It is not just our right but our obligation. We owe it to ourselves and to those who come after us. The privileged among us owe it to the poverty-stricken, the disadvantaged, the deprived. There are those among us who are guided not by their conscience but by the lure of shekels — we can no longer afford to sit back and let them determine our fates. The writer is a banker and freelance writer. Email: khusro_m@yahoo.co.uk

(Daily The News   Monday, August 28, 2006)

JUST before 0700 hours on August 24 the telephone rang. On the line was my good friend, Dr Shershah Suri, urging me to act quickly, at once. Why? I asked. Well, the party workers of the MQM are busy hacking off, discriminately, the branches of the 100-year old trees that line Bunder Road.

That day, the party was to organize a mass rally on Bunder Road to protest against the MMA opposition to the passing of the amendment to the Hadood Ordinances and it was planned that the party chief, self-exiled Altaf Hussain Bhai would address the gathered faithful from the safety and comfort of his north London suburban headquarters. The trees would obstruct the sound of his voice — they had to be dealt with.

Who, I asked Shershah, is available at this time of the morning and who, if available, will do anything to save the trees? The rally was held, the entire city’s traffic was disrupted, the trees suffered, and Altaf Bhai’s expected harangue, the voice of the famed Londoner, was not heard. Science let us down.

The next day, the 25th, an invitation card arrived from the Pakistan Association for Mental Health for a fund-raising gala evening. It bore cheerful tidings which set the trend for that day:

“Every other house in Karachi has one or more persons taking tranquillisers.

“Every fifth house has a psychosomatic/psychiatric problem disturbing family members, the neighbourhood of society in general.

“Every tenth house has a psychiatric patient needing medical attention for depression, psychosis, psychosomatic disorders, obsession, mental retardation, epilepsy, and drug dependence.

“In Pakistan there are 16 million people who are mentally disturbed.

“In Karachi there are 16 hundred thousand people suffering from emotional, intellectual and/or social adjustment disorders.

“Among them, at least three hundred thousand are those who need psychiatric/psychological attention. They are likely to become a permanent burden on society if not taken care of.”

On the morning of the 26th, Roland deSouza, chairperson of Shehri, appeared with more good news to lighten up the day. This time it was about the beaches of Karachi, or what remains of them. In April last year, five concerned citizens of the Defence Housing Authority approached the Sindh High Court (CP 403/05) seeking to save one section of the beach — the 13-acre Usmani Park, between Beach Avenue and the sea — from being converted into yet another blight on our lives, another gigantic shopping-cum-entertainment-cum-residential complex. Last January, Shehri too intervened with a petition of its own. It was brought to the court’s attention that if the DHA is allowed to get away with this ‘privatization’ of the public beach, it will have the adverse effect of encouraging other parties to attempt to exploit and privatise what other few open spaces, amenities and facilities are left for the people. Going overboard slightly, Roland even suggested that the polluted air we breathe may even be in danger.

As the petition states, the sea shore conversion project is in violation of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997. If this ‘development’ is allowed, the increased commercialisation will add to the existing pollution. It will destroy any surviving marine micro-organisms and will result in the extinction or mass reduction of fish, turtles, and coastal birds, and in the general depletion of the sea-food industry.

A Sindh government notification of May 1975 prohibits the leasing of land within the area of the ports or sea shore limits. The beaches around the DHA are within the limits of the Karachi Port Trust and the Port Qasim Authority.

According to a DHA newsletter, the Authority has a grand plan to convert 14 kilometres of “virgin, unspoilt (sic) waterfront” into a $600 million series of playgrounds and leisure/pleasure spots to be known as the ‘DHA Waterfront Development Project’ which will provide to the rich and affluent of Karachi “the luxuries of an aristocratic life”. This extravaganza consists of seven zones with expensive commercial, entertainment, residential, commercial, hotel and office buildings, and includes the “reclamation of 74.5 acres of land, for a high-end Hotel Complex,” and “5-star hotels owning private segments of the beach,” and a “private beach with lagoon for hotel & residential blocks.”

The citizens must have a very convincing case because the DHA has finally retained the professional services of two legal heavyweights — Makhdoom Ali Khan, the Attorney-General of Pakistan, and Anwar Mansoor Khan, the Advocate-General of Sindh, both acting in their private capacities — to prove the citizens wrong.

After what we have suffered over the past month — and are still suffering the after-effects, can this city really cope with these gimmicky development schemes which only serve to line a few select pockets? Is there any infrastructure to bear further so-called ‘development’ projects? This city has 16 to 18 million inhabitants, nearly half of whom live in katchi abadis. It has serious problems with its water supply, sewerage systems, storm drainage, and electricity supply.

With the completion of the K-III water scheme, the Indus river supply exceeds 550 million gallons per day (MGD = 1,000,000 GD) with a further 100MGD coming from the Hub dam. With 650MGD, Karachi’s inhabitants have 35-40 gallons available per head per day, a figure that is adequate in our context. Yet water is not getting to all the people. The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s contention that there is a 30 per cent (180MGD) leakage seems exaggerated. The main reasons are theft, in equitable distribution, and the absence of the writ of the government — anarchy and no Law and Order, which is the responsibility of a government.

Of the 450MGD untreated sewage that flows into the gutters, approximately 100MGD is treated in three poorly operating sewage-treatment plants. So, 350MGD of untreated effluent flows into the Arabian Sea and into the creeks around Karachi. This amount would fill some 40 super-tanker ships of 50,000-tonne capacity each on a daily basis. Do we qualify even as a second world country?

The surface drainage of this city died with the recent rains — about three inches only. Unplanned urbanisation, ad hoc construction, the closure of natural nallahs and drains with illegal buildings will make this a recurring problem. The administration has combined the sewerage and storm drainage systems, but takes no steps to clean the drains before the monsoons.

The recently privatized KESC has inherited an overloaded and dilapidated generation, transmission and distribution network, with a demand load of about 2000MW, from which about 20 per cent of the available electricity is stolen. The system collapsed at its weakest points during the downpour, leaving many residential, commercial and industrial areas without power for days on end. Many persons were electrocuted by fallen wires during the rain.

A well thought-out proactive, not reactive, methodology is required to address the issues of the critical utilities in this city — not the expropriation of whatever spaces are left open and massive commercialisation and ‘development’ relying on the present totally inadequate infrastructure. Whoever it be who has this city at his mercy needs to get his priorities lined up in the right direction.

Who was it who exhorted us to ‘never despair’? E-mail: arfc@cyber.net.pk

(Daily Dawn  August 27, 2006)

KARACHI: Non-government organizations (NGOs), trade unions and political parties have joined hands to fight the privatization of Karachi's beaches with a legal, signature and media campaign.

These groups met Wednesday for a discussion forum on 'Clifton Beach and Sea View: Proposed plans and their impact' at the Urban Resource Centre (URC) head office with senior urban planner and URC chairman Arif Hasan in chair. The main concern was the multi-billion dollar projects that will stretch over 14 kilometres of Clifton beach for commercial and residential construction that could effectively shut off these areas for the general public.

The URC, Aurat Foundation, Orangi Pilot Project, Church World Services, Edhi Welfare Foundation, Pakistan People Party, People Labour Bureau KESC were some of the organizations that have backed this cause in addition to lawyers, professors, doctors and students of Karachi and NED universities.

A 15-member action committee was formed to conduct the campaign and will meet next week to implement decisions made at the meeting.

Arif Hasan talked about the negative impact of the $1.5 billion Water Front Development Project, which was announced by the Defence Housing Authority (DHA).

After it is ready, the public will not have access to the beaches of the city, he said. In the past, DHA developed the Sea View Housing Project, which has given rise to water pollution as untreated domestic waste is discharged into the sea, he added.

"It is an international law that any construction and development between roads and beaches is not allowed.

The governments of India, Bangkok, Sri Lanka have banned any development and construction along beach sites. But in Pakistan these laws have been changed by the mafia," said Hasan.

Participants were concerned over the allotment of the beach in the name of development and said that DHA had no right to take over recreational facilities.

"All recreational spots are being grabbed by the land mafia in connivance with the authorities," said Tahira Hussain, a lawyer. "According to the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, beaches reserved for recreational proposes are not mean to be sold for housing schemes."

She suggested that society and political organizations should study every aspect of the laws and fill a petition against the project. "We should use a legal war and approach the courts," she urged.

Trade union activist Latif Mughal said that the present government did not have a clear policy for the general public. He proposed an awareness campaign to mobilize public opinion against the privatization of the beaches.

He said that the government authorities had their owns laws for the sale of public resources to private parties for commercial purposes. But the public should come forward to oppose this, he added.

The Pakistan Peoples Party declared its support for the campaign against DHA, which is selling beaches to the private parties. "The PPP will also approach other political parties to raise this issue," said former senator Taj Haider of the PPP. "The DHA's decision to turn this vital ecological and recreational asset into private property for nascent commercial exploitation needs to be carefully reviewed," he added as the city already faces a shortage of recreational facilities.

"Beaches cannot be allotted to private parties," he added.

(Daily Times, Thursday, August 17, 2006)

 
KARACHI, Sept 2: Speakers at a workshop criticised the civic agencies for carrying out beach development projects, which they feared would deny access to the poor masses to the seashore.

These views were expressed at a consultative workshop on “Karachi city: searching for sustainable urban development paradigm” organised by Shehri in collaboration with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation here on Saturday.

The speakers said that people should try to assert their ownership over the city resources and various organisations managing these, as with better monitoring the quality of life of the Karachiites would hopefully improve.

Speaking on the occasion, Arif Hasan, an expert in town planning, said that the ecological concerns had been ignored by KPT while constructing its installation as it did not leave any channel for the flow of water from three main stormwater drains into the sea. This, he said, was a major cause for the disastrous situation experienced by citizens during the recent rains in the city.

He pointed out that the DHA had acquired a 14-km-long strip of land along the beach in the name of ‘development’, adding: “If this process continues, then less citizens will have access to beaches as construction would be carried out all along the beach.”

He deplored the authorities for evaluating plans for the elite only, instead of the majority, which belonged to middle and lower classes and formed more than 70 per cent of the population.

He noted that a large number of Karachiites lived in katchi abadis or slums, and argued that even in the Far East, governments would chalk out plans for housing, development, recreation, etc., for the under-privileged class which lacked basic amenities of life.

He said that in this city, millions of tons of effluent were being flushed and dumped into the sea, adding to the miseries of fishermen communities living in the areas along Korangi Creek for centuries.

Other speakers said that actions such as cellphone or purse snatching provoked resistance but illegal allotment of amenity plots in the city went unnoticed. It was due to fact that in the case of purse etc, there was a sense of proprietorship, while in case of amenity plots one did not feel that they belonged to the residents of the city, so nobody raised any hue and cry and the plunder continued, it was pointed out.

They said that a new coastal development plan was being finalised owing to which almost 80 per cent of the beach, which was a national resource and nobody could restrict anybody’s entry to it, would become private and out of bounds for the common people.

One of the speakers said that some time back the DHA while developing the beach at Seaview Township removed the vendors and others selling low cost edibles, snake charmers, jugglers, and others and the low income group people stopped going there as majority of the families visiting that beach could not afford to buy the expensive food items being sold at the stalls, and that beach became out of the reach of the poor.

Similarly now a huge park is being developed at the Clifton beach by the city government and under a similar exercise people selling low cost food items, etc are being shifted, and after some time this beach will also be out of the reach of the masses.

He said that there were over 150 stalls selling goods made from sea shells for over a century, but now they had been evicted and these people were now selling their goods to shops set up in nearby buildings and their earnings had also declined. All this is going on, but nobody is coming up and raising the issue to protect the right to access the beaches of the poor people, he added.

Another speaker said that many nullahs that used to drain rainwater from the city had been encroached upon and some of these had even been allotted decreasing their capacity to drain the rainwater and during the recent rains, which were just three inches, many portions of the city remained inundated for many days even after the rains had stopped.

They said that owing to the greed of the people managing the city and national resources vast patches of land had been reclaimed from the China Creek, the back waters for the Karachi harbour, thus increasing the dredging cost of the harbour channel. The DHA had also reclaimed land which had affected the sea current.

One of the speakers said that the tendency to speculate in-land and housing among the middle class people had taken roots owing to which, whenever a new housing scheme was announced it was booked, but as a large number of the people getting these plots or flats were speculators so on one hand many plots and flats remained vacant, and on the other a large number of people who wanted these could not afford to purchase such properties. This is due to the speculation which inflates the prices out of the reach of the poor masses, he added.

The speakers said that the recent rains brought to the fore the follies and extreme shortcomings of the urban planning and development in the city and the people suffered the consequences of overflowing sewers, flooded streets and neighbourhoods, power outages and collapse of communication systems, and most of the civic agencies, government or private, were engaged in a heated blame game, accusing each other for being responsible for the unfolding crisis.

They said that as the Northern Bypass was being constructed, so there was no need left for Lyari Expressway, but it was being constructed and over 200,000 people had been uprooted from their ancestral homes in which their families had been living for over 200 years.They said that respiratory tract and eye diseases were increasing owing to the air pollution in the city due to the vehicular smoke while the lead in the fuel was causing retardation among people – women, children and elderly being more vulnerable.

They said over 300 million gallons of raw sewage, including untreated industrial effluents, was entering the sea daily seriously affecting the aquatic life and fragile marine ecosystem. They said that at least two new power plants were coming up in the city without carrying out the mandatory exercise of environmental impact assessment. The speakers were of the view that unless the citizens realised that these were their resources and that the organisations managing these resources were not properly handling these resources and if they did not forge unity to resist against this plunder it would continue to go on. They said that it was time to join hands and raise their voice so that these resources were used wisely and the coming generations could also benefit from these.

They said that earlier, the information regarding these projects etc was not made available by the government departments, but now with the recently announced access to information law hopefully the government organisations would provide information, which was necessary to understand and become aware of the effects of any project or new activity.

Arif Hassan, Tasneem Siddiqui, Roland D’Souza, Dr Noman Ahmad, Amber Alibhai, Farhan Anwer, Hamid Maker, and others also spoke.

(By Bhagwandas, Daily Dawn Karachi, September 03, 2006)

KARACHI: Planning is being done by those who only are interested in financial benefits; and when it comes to responsibility, none of the civic authorities and agencies seem assured of their jurisdictions.

This was highlighted by Roland D’Souza, Electrical Engineer and Chairperson, Shehri-CBE, at a consultative workshop on “Karachi City: Searching for a Sustainable Urban Development Paradigm,” organised by Shehri here on Saturday. The workshop was aimed at discussing among the relevant stakeholders, the related issues and concerns and seek solutions through a coordinated problem- solving approach.

“Authorities must not rush into projects without involving other civic agencies as well as the general public”, said Amber Alibhai, General Secretary, Shehri-CBE. Regardless of the area (it may be Nazimabad, Cantonment or Port Qasim) any development that occurs within the city leaves its effects on the other areas of the city, commented Amber. Preservation and conservation of Karachi’s Natural and Built Environment is necessary as numerous International as well as national visitors come to see the metropolis.

We need to follow many worldwide examples where the private sector has developed the cities with the help of their governments, she said. Four separate case studies dealing with important urban development plans and projects were presented by noted urban planning and development experts in an effort to identify the relevant contributing policy and planning dimensions of the urban development crisis in the city.

“A development project needs to be planned in such a way that the majority would get benefits from that, and not only a particular group; whereas we have always neglected the big part of our population (Katchi Abadis that is about 70 percent) while planning development projects,” said Arif Hasan, noted urban planner and Chairman, Urban Resource Centre (URC) who presented a case study on the DHA Waterfront Development Project. Development, whether it has already been done or is being planned along the coastline has no room for the lower classes, most of whom had earned their livelihood from the same place. Previously, the poor hawkers were forced by DHA to leave main Sea View. All the monkey men, tea sellers and other hawkers then moved over to the other side which started being called as Gharibon Ka Saahil. Later, the City Government evicted them from there also for the Beach Park had to be developed. Although it has been said by the City Government throughout that this development has been done for the poor classes, not a single family belonging to that class can afford the expensive entertainment they are being forced to enjoy, Arif said. Be it the DHA, KPT or the City Government, no one has planned development projects keeping Karachi’s majority population in mind. “Eighty-two percent area of the open sea is now inaccessible to the common man due to all the development that has been carried out in between the sea and the road,” disclosed Hasan.

(The News, September 03, 2006)

KARACHI: In a bid to alleviate organized public pressure against the increasingly controversial multi-billion dollar Waterfront project, the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) has decided to appoint a public representative, Daily Times has learnt.

NGOs and professional bodies have protested against the DHA’s plans to build the Waterfront Development Project comprising a commercial complex, monumental tower, amusement park, five-star hotel, amphitheatre complex and water sports facilities, along 14 kilometers of Clifton beach starting from Old Casino to Golf Course. They argue that this project will effectively block off access to prime recreational beach land for the public. They contend that it is against international laws for any construction along this type of land which the public have a right to freely access.

According to sources, the DHA administration has asked the Defence Association Coordination Committee (DACC), a Defence-based CBO, to gave the names of two representatives who could make suggestions on the issue of the public’s access along Clifton beach after the construction of the Waterfront Development Project. For example, according to page 4 of the DHA master plan for the project, “the private dwellings of the residents extend up to the beach, which therefore is their private space”. The residential complex is spread over 10 acres of land.

“A DACC delegation met the DHA administrator who asked us to submit the names of public representatives, who can represent the problems and grievances of the public,” said Aziz Suharwardy, general secretary, DACC, while talking to Daily Times.

He said that these public representatives would help defuse the tension between the NGOs and DHA over the $1.5 billion project. DACC has submitted the names of the public representatives, he added.

According to DHA officials, the DHA Governing Body also discussed the issue of access for the general public and reiterated its “confidence” in the efficacy of the project, which envisages the provision of free and uninhibited accessibility to 80 percent of prime beachfront area to the general public in its “improved yet pristine form”. The project would turn Clifton beach into an attractive recreational and entertainment resort free of any charge, officials claimed.