Vision for future cities is to allow buildings to rise vertically, more green spaces: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday shared that his vision for Pakistan's future cities is to allow buildings to rise vertically so there are more green spaces.

The premier tweeted, "My vision for our future cities: to allow buildings to rise vertically and allow for more green spaces as Pak is one of the the most environmentally-threatened countries."

"Avoiding large sprawling built-up areas will also allow easier provision of amenities to our urban dwellers," he added.

In another tweet, the premier said, "Our arable land is being eaten up by housing societies and has grave consequences for our food security in the future. Also, we are in the process of making laws to allow buildings, built to international safety standards, to go as high as in other cities across the world."

A day earlier, PM Imran while chairing a meeting of the Punjab cabinet had ordered to halt construction of housing schemes on agriculture department’s land across all major cities of the province.

The prime minister directed officials to not approve any housing project on land owned by the agriculture department. High-rises will be constructed instead of expanded projects on the land, the premier was quoted as saying. The meeting described the rationale of the decision as minimizing the use of land.