Islamabad to have ‘cities within city’ a la Dubai

ISLAMABAD: The concept of ‘cities within city’ is being introduced in Pakistani capital Islamabad to bring the cluster of educational, cultural institutions, cinema halls, business centres and industrial units to a specified place.
The new master plan of Islamabad, which will shortly be sent to the federal cabinet for approval, envisages establishment of an education city, a cine-city, a heritage city, an industrial city and a business district.
If the plan is implemented, people will be able to know where they should go if they want to watch movies on big screens, seek admission to educational institutions, go for shopping and set up business units.
Sources in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said the concept of ‘cities within city’ had been adopted from Dubai where areas are specified for different purposes and they are called cities.
It is for the first time that such cities are being marked for specific purposes. The authorities hope that the idea would offer options to the people.
Education City: Islamabad’s Sector H-16 would become the Education City where new universities, colleges and schools would be established and others shifted from the residential areas of the capital.
According to a CDA official, some four universities would set up their campuses in the education city. They include Sir Syed University, National College of Arts (which will issue master’s degrees), University of Engineering and Technology and Overseas Pakistanis Foundation University.
The CDA has already provided plots to different educational institutions in the education city and asked their administrations to shift from the residential areas.
Industrial City: The Industrial City, commonly called industrial zone, would be spread over three sectors of I-17, J-17 and I-18 sectors of Islamabad.
The Industrial City is being established because the existing industrial zone in sector I-9 and I-10 is unable to accommodate new units.
Heritage City: The Heritage City has been proposed in sector H-15, where pavilions and buildings housing heritage institutions would be established.
The pavilions will present and promote the heritage of Gandhara and Indus civilisations. It is believed that it would also become one of the tourist attracting and picnic site.
Cine City: The Cine City would be established in Zone-IV near Chak Shahzad where cinema houses, ceremony areas, halls and theatres would be set up.
Currently, Islamabad is stated to be the only capital in the world were there is no cinema house.
Business City: The Business City would be established at the junction where boundaries of Zone-IV and Zone-V meet near Loi Bher area and will be spread over 300 acres. – Internews
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