Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has announced plans for a 1,000-acre, Manhattan-style city behind the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad. Speaking at the Saudi-Pak Real Estate Expo in Lahore, he said the project would include a central park, a lake, and surrounding residential and commercial complexes. It would be governed by a separate regulatory framework.
Naqvi also said prime plots in the capital would be auctioned in December for hotels, shopping malls and housing complexes. Rather than requiring an upfront payment for the land, the government would offer investors an inventory-sharing arrangement.
Rules and building requirements for the proposed city
Naqvi said the city would operate under its own laws, rules and standard operating procedures. He did not give details of the proposed regulatory framework. According to the minister, the government would offer plots of one, two, three and six acres for high-rise developments, and buildings would have to be at least 600 feet tall.
He added that investors would need to finish their projects within three years of approval. Naqvi also said the development would feature a central park and a lake, surrounded by commercial and residential complexes.
Auction model and a new approval process
Under the proposed auction model, the first phase would offer 15 per cent of the inventory, and investors would make offers based on the inventory arrangement. Naqvi did not elaborate on the financial structure. He said a five-member auction committee would be formed, including representatives of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA). A judge would chair the committee.
The minister said the arrangement was meant to ease investors’ security concerns and avoid disputes after projects were awarded, when government departments might raise objections. He also said an approval mechanism would be set up within the Interior Ministry to process applications in three to four weeks. Investors would no longer need to visit the CDA and other government offices.
Safari park and another large park for Islamabad
Earlier, on October 6, Naqvi said Islamabad would receive another park roughly the size of Fatima Jinnah Park, commonly known as F-9 Park. He said the aim was to make the capital greener and improve facilities for residents and visitors. Naqvi also announced plans for what he described as Asia’s largest safari park, spanning around 450 acres in Islamabad.
Citing a safari park project in Punjab, Naqvi said upgrades, including the addition of animals and reconstruction work, had raised its annual auction value from Rs20 million to Rs680 million within a year. He said this showed the potential of entertainment-related investment. Pakistan, he said, had significant untapped potential in entertainment and residential development.
Naqvi invited investors to explore the proposed projects. He said the government intended to streamline approvals and create a more predictable environment for investment, while also improving recreational facilities for the public.
