Mohsin Naqvi announces 1,000-acre Manhattan-style city behind PM House in Islamabad

LAHORE: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has announced plans to develop a 1,000-acre Manhattan-style city behind the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad, with a central park, a lake and surrounding residential and commercial complexes under a proposed separate regulatory framework.

Addressing the Saudi-Pak Real Estate Expo in Lahore, Naqvi also announced plans to auction prime plots in Islamabad in December for hotels, shopping malls and residential complexes, offering investors an inventory-sharing arrangement instead of an upfront payment for the land.

Earlier on October 6, Naqvi said that Islamabad will get another park roughly the size of Fatima Jinnah Park, commonly known as F-9 Park, as part of efforts to make the capital greener and improve facilities for residents and visitors.

He said the proposed Manhattan-style city would operate under a different set of laws, rules and standard operating procedures, although he did not provide details of the proposed regulatory framework.

The development would feature a central park and a lake surrounded by commercial and residential complexes, according to the minister.

Naqvi said that the government would offer plots measuring one, two, three and six acres for high-rise developments, with buildings required to be at least 600 feet tall.

Under the proposed auction model, the process would begin with 15 per cent of the inventory, with investors making offers based on the inventory arrangement, he said, without elaborating on the financial structure.

The minister said investors would be required to complete their projects within three years of approval.

He said that the government would establish an approval mechanism within the Interior Ministry to process applications within three to four weeks, eliminating the need for investors to visit the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and other government offices.

He said a five-member auction committee would include representatives of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the CDA, along with a judge who would head the committee.

The arrangement, he said, was intended to address investors’ security concerns and prevent complications arising from objections by government departments after projects had been awarded.

Naqvi also announced plans to establish what he described as Asia’s largest safari park in Islamabad, spanning around 450 acres.

Citing a safari park project in Punjab, he said improvements to the facility, including the addition of animals and reconstruction work, had increased its annual auction value from Rs20 million to Rs680 million within a year, demonstrating the potential of entertainment-related investments.

He said that Pakistan had significant untapped potential in entertainment and residential development, adding that the government wanted to create more opportunities for investors while improving recreational facilities for the public.

Naqvi invited investors to explore the proposed projects in Islamabad, saying the government intended to streamline approvals and provide a more predictable environment for investment.