LG System Act draft: Islamabad mayor to be elected directly; MC to have 70 members

ISLAMABAD: The Mayor of Islamabad would be elected directly while the metropolitan corporation will have as many as 70 members under a proposed draft of “The Local Government System Act 2021”.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar Tuesday presided over the review meeting of Islamabad Local Government System Act 2021.

The meeting was attended by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Capital Development Authority (CDA) Ali Awan, MNA Raja Khurram Nawaz, Law Secretary, Additional Secretary Home, and other officials.

According to the sources, the prime minister has approved the proposed draft of The Local Government System Act 2021.

Briefing the meeting, it was informed that the recommendations of the Local Government System Act 2021 have been drafted, which will consist of two parts, the first part of which will consist of Metropolitan Islamabad and the second part of Neighborhood Council.

In addition to the mayor, the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad will have a total of 70 members.

Of these, 45 are general seats, 10 are for women, three are for youth, three are for minority communities, three are for traders, three are for labourers/farmers, and three are for senior citizens.

Out of these 70 seats, the panel of 25 special seats will be won by the mayoral candidate, while 45 general seats will be distributed to the mayoral candidate in proportion to the votes they have polled.

Under the second part of the system, the whole of Islamabad will consist of a total of 100 neighborhood councils. Apart from five reserved seats and chairperson, four councilors will be directly elected and the reserved seats have two women, one minority, one youth, and one senior citizen, who will be elected by the elected chairperson.

It was further informed in the meeting that overall implementation of all future development schemes of Islamabad, planning and including Islamabad master plan will be looked after by the local government, while the CDA will play the role of a regulator.

Out of 67 directorates from the CDA, 56 directorates will be shifted from Metropolitan Islamabad to local government on permanent basis.

Of the 17 Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) departments, 11 will be transferred to the local government. Federal Minister Asad Umar said that in accordance with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, for the first time in history an empowered and purposeful local government system is being brought for Islamabad.

He said that the local government system will be bound to provide home-based facilities to the citizens of Islamabad.

The federal minister directed to expedite the work on the draft containing the recommendations of the Islamabad Local Government System Act.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021