Emaar seeks more time in Crescent Bay case

DHA took over ‘abandoned’ project site about two weeks ago.

KARACHI:

The Dubai-based international construction giant Emaar sought more time from the high court on Tuesday to present its arguments in a petition filed against it by the Pakistan Defence Officers Housing Authority (DHA) regarding the 108-acre Crescent Bay project in DHA Phase VIII’s waterfront zone E.

The Sindh High Court accepted the plea and deferred the case until August 2. The stay order that DHA obtained on June 27 would be effective till the next hearing.

DHA had filed a petition against four companies - Emaar Giga International FZCO, Emaar Giga Karachi Limited, Emaar Properties PJSC and CEO Global Marketing Services (GMS) Shaukat Qureshi.

The regulatory body maintained in its petition that Emaar was trying to “clandestinely” sell Crescent Bay plots without its permission to “unauthorised parties.” It also accused Emaar of abandoning the project.

Moreover, it said that even though more than seven years had passed since the memorandum of understanding was inked between the two parties, DHA contended in its petition that only two towers and that too only till the second floor, were constructed, even though Emaar has collected more than Rs1.5 billion from its customers in advance.

Also, out of the 110 people who were allotted plots in Crescent Bay, 100 of them are in litigation against Emaar.

On June 25, 2011, DHA officers allegedly discovered GMS staff taking measurements and dimensions of the land, which the regulatory body believes was in violation of the agreement that mentions that no sale can move ahead unless DHA approves it. DHA immediately removed the GMS personnel from the site and took over possession of the land and the Crescent Bay project itself in “public interest”. It now wants to undertake construction of the two towers which, according to them, Emaar has abandoned.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2011.