Defence Housing Authority, Karachi
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| Defence Housing Authority | |
| Location | South Karachi |
| Population | 660,931 |
| Area | 8852 acres |
| Houses Built: | 13,868 Residential 2,805 Commercial |
| Number of Plots: | 34,979 Residential 9,447 Commercial |
The Defence Housing Authority, Karachi, also known as the Pakistan Defence Officers Housing Authority, Karachi, or DHA, Karachi, is the foremost development in Pakistan with many exclusive projects to its credit. The biggest setup of its kind in Asia, today DHA is considered to be the first choice residential area for the affluent of Pakistan.
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[edit] History and administration
The Authority came into existence through Presidential Order No.7 of 1980 and was later approved by the National Assembly of Pakistan. The Authority is spread over 8852 acres and provides civic facilities to millions of residents. The efforts to develop DHA have been fruitful, signified by growth oriented high class living values.[citation needed] The housing projects are planned to cover every aspect of healthy living and contain beautiful parks, excellent educational institutions and modern clubs. The organizational matters are well attended by Secretary, Chief Engineer, Directors and a committed and dedicated work force to ensure smooth running of the organization.
The functioning of the Authority is vested in the two bodies, namely the Governing body headed by Secretary Ministry of Defence and Executive Board Headed by the Corps Commander Posted at Karachi. The Executive Board exercises all administrative, executive and financial powers and does all acts and things which may be exercised or done by the Authority. The Administrator is the Executive Head of the Authority and exercises all executive powers, delegation or otherwise, in accordance with the policy laid down by the Governing Body and the directions or decisions of the Executive Board. Despite its tall claims, the fact of the matter is that it has failed to develop Phase 8 in last three decades and has mostly used this phase for fleecing money from the investors and residents.
[edit] Major roads
- Korangi Road/National Highway: Korangi Road connects DHA to Shahrah-e-Faisal near the Finance and Trade Centre, Karachi on one side and Korangi Industrial Area on the other. It runs in Phase I and Phase II.
- Sunset Boulevard: Sunset Boulevard connects DHA to Mai Kolachi on one side and meets Korangi Road on the other side. Sunset Boulevard runs in Phase II.
- Khayaban-e-Shamsheer: Shamsheer meets up with Gizri Boulevard on one end and Beach Avenue on the other. It runs perpendicular to Khayaban-e-Hafiz. Landmarks on Shamsheer include the Saudi Embassy. It runs in Phase V.
- Khayaban-e-Ittehad: Ittehad meets up with Korangi Road on one side and Seaview Road on the other. Khayaban-e-Ittehad curves shortly after its intersection with 5th street and from that point onwards, runs at an angle of 45 degrees from the vertical. It meets most of the roads that run in DHA. It runs in Phase VI, Phase VII & Phase VII.
- Khayaban-e-Hafiz: Hafiz is continuous with Chaudri Khaliq-uz-Zaman Road on one side and goes deep into Phase VIII on the other side. Landmarks on Hafiz include the Saudi Embassy and the Sultan Masjid. Hafiz runs in Phase V, Phase VI and Phase VIII.
- Khayaban-e-Shaheen: Shaheen runs parallel to Hafiz. It is continuous with Zamzama Boulevard on one side and passes through 'Creek City' on the other side. Landmarks on Shaheen include Shaikh Zaid's 'Mehel'. Shaheen runs in Phase V, Phase VI and Phase VIII
- Gizri: Gizri is mainly a commercial road. Gizri is continuous with Khayaban-e-Hafiz on one side and Chaudry Khaliq-uz-Zaman Road on the other. Landmarks on Gizri include the 'Submarine Chowk'. Gizri has its own system of streets and lanes, known as the 'Gizri Streets' and 'Gizri Lanes'. It runs in Phase IV.
- Zamzama: Zamzama is another commercial road that is continuous with Khayaban-e-Shaheen on one side and ends at 'Two Talwar' on the other side. Zamzama also has its own system of streets and lanes, known as 'Commercial lanes' (not to be confused with the commercial lanes in Phase IV) and 'Zamzama streets'. It runs in Phase V.
- Khayaban-e-Bahria: Bahria runs perpendicular to Khayaban-e-Hafiz. It meets up with Khayaban-e-Ittehad on one side and Seaview Road on the other. Landmarks on Bahria include the Sultan Masjid. It runs in Phase V and Phase VII.
- 26th street: 26th street runs parallel to Khayaban-e-Hafiz. It meets up with Abdullah Shah Ghazi road/Shahrah-e-Firdousi on one side and goes deep into Phase VIII on the other. 26th street runs in Phase V, Phase VI and Phase VIII.
- Seaview Road/Beach Avenue: Seaview Road runs along the sea, hence its name. Seaview Road connects Defence with Mai Kolachi on one side and goes deep into Phase VIII on the other side. Seaview Road runs in Phase V, Phase VI and Phase VIII.
- Commercial Avenue: Commercial Avenue runs parallel to Khayaban-e-Hafiz. It meets up with Khayaban-e-Jami on one side and Khayaban-e-Ittehad on the other. Commercial Avenue has its own system of streets and lanes, known as 'Commercial Streets' and 'Commercial Lanes' (not to be confused with Zamzama's commercial lanes). Commercial Avenue is also known as the 'naalay walee sarak' (road with the drainage line) due to the fact that a drain runs through the middle of the road. Landmarks on Commercial Avenue include the Imam Bargha and the DHA School Phase IV branch. Commercial Avenue runs through Phase IV and Phase VI.
- Zulfiqar Street 1: Zulfiqar Street 1 starts at Khayaban-e-Ittehad and ends at Seaview Road. Creek Club, Marina Club, Carlton Hotel, Area 51 and Golf Club are all located on Zulfiqar Street 1. Zulfiqar Street 1 also meets up with Creek City. It runs through Phase VIII.
[edit] System of Streets and Lanes
There are six main systems of streets and lanes in DHA: the normal streets and lanes, found in Phase IV, V, VI, VII and VIII; the commercial streets and lanes, found in Phase IV; the Gizri streets and lanes, found in Phase IV; the Zamzama streets, found in Phase V; the South/Central/North streets, found in Phase I, Phase II and Phase II extension; and the Sunset streets and lanes, found in Phase II and Phase II extension.
- Normal streets and lanes: In the normal system, streets and lanes are parallel to each other, with the exception of 26th lane, which runs at an angle to all the other lanes. Normal streets and lanes run parallel to Khayaban-e-Hafiz.
- Commercial streets and lanes: Commercial streets run parallel to Commercial Avenue, while commercial lanes run perpendicular to Commercial Avenue. 5th Commercial Lane, 4th Commercial Lane, 2nd Commercial Lane and 1st Commercial Lane meet up with the Gizri system of streets and lanes.
- Gizri streets and lanes: In the Gizri system, streets and lanes are parallel to each other, as would be expected. Gizri streets run parallel to Gizri Boulevard, while Gizri lanes run perpendicular to Gizri Boulevard. N lane, N Street, M Street, 1st Gizri Street, Gizri Avenue, 2nd Gizri Lane and 1st Gizri Lane all meet up with Commercial Avenue. Gizri Avenue also meets up with Gizri, and goes on to meet Zamzama as well.
- Zamzama streets and lanes: Zamzama's streets have their own peculiarities: 12th Zamzama Street, 9th Zamzama Street and 1st Zamzama Street run perpendicular to Zamzama while the other Zamzama streets run parallel to it. 4th Zamzama street meets up with Two Talwar. 3rd Zamzama Street is continuous with Khayaban-e-Shujaat.
- South/Central/North streets: The South/Central/North Streets run parallel to each other and perpendicular to Sunset Boulevard. South Streets run from Sunset Boulevard to South Circular Avenue, Central Streets run from South Circular Avenue till Sailor Street, and North Streets run from Korangi Road till the end of Phase I.
- Sunset streets and lanes: Sunset streets run perpendicular to Sunset Boulevard while Sunset lanes run parallel to it.
[edit] Schools and colleges
- Defence Authority Degree College for Men
- Defence Housing Authority Degree College for Women
- Defence Authority Public School A&O Levels
- Defence Authority Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed College Phase-VI (higher secondary school)
- Defence Authority Higher Secondary School
- Defence Authority Public School(O & A Level)
[edit] Problems
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Although DHA is by far the most developed housing area in Karachi, it still has its problems:
- DHA is situated very close to the sea, and thus, the paint on houses peels off very quickly. This problem occurs throughout DHA, but especially in the Seaview Apartments, which are right next to the sea. Maintenance costs are thus very expensive.
- Many roads were initially not built properly. Thus, they have had to be rebuilt. Khayaban-e-Shahbaz is a prime example of this. It was initially built with only one lane on each side of the road, and the houses were given extremely large front areas. Shahbaz, however, grew to be a commercial road, and just one lane was not enough. As a result, the whole of Shahbaz is being rebuilt, and the rebuilding process might take longer than a year.
- The system of cuts, signals and speedbreakers is not as good as one would expect of the city's premier settlement:
- On Khayaban-e-Hilal, for example, 5th Street, which unbroken connects Khayaban-e-Momin to Khayaban-e-Ittehad and is the only road to do so, is not given a cut, while 4th Street, which only runs between Khayaban-e-Badr and Khayaban-e-Hilal, is not.
- In some places, speedbreakers are situated directly before signals, which makes no sense, since the signal will regulate traffic.
- Recently, a new type of speedbreaker was built on Zulfiqar Street 1 and 4th Zamzama Street. Normal speedbreakers have one hump, and are very effective, but these new speedbreakers had five or six humps, which only served to rattle the car and ruin its shock absorbing system. The new type of speedbreakers on Zulfiqar Street 1 have been demolished, but the one on 4th Zamzama Street still remains.
- Signal timings are sometimes quite unreasonable and inadequate. For example, on Submarine Chowk, the cars coming from Gizri and Chaudry Khaliq-uz-Zaman road get only 16 seconds each, even though both are quite busy roads.
- Being one of the poshest areas in Karachi, the drainage system is very poor. Minimal downpour leads to streets being completely flooded.
