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Former Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (Abad) regional chairperson Haris Mithani said this to the director-general (DG) of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Sirajul Naeem, during a question-and-answer session at a seminar on 'Transparency in Construction Industry'. The seminar was organised by Abad at their office in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Builders, developers and other representatives of the business community attended the seminar and expressed their concerns before the NAB DG in the presence of Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) DG Mumtaz Haider, Board of Revenue senior member Muhammad Wasim, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KW&SB) managing director Misbahuddin Fareed, Lyari Development Authority DG Agha Masood Abbas and Iftikhar Kaimkhani from Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).
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Responding to Mithani's concern, the NAB DG said that they keep on asking government functionaries to continue their normal functions. "It is their legal duty to deliver services to the people," he said. "NAB can review their orders if members of Abad get serious issues in getting services from government organisations."
Businessman Aqeel Karim Dhedhi asked the NAB DG if there is any provision in the NAB Ordinance to take action against someone for filing frivolous complaints. Naeem responded that they are working on it.
Abad senior vice-chairperson Arif Jeeva demanded that all organisations operate online to maintain maximum transparency in their records.
Arif Habib Dolmen REIT Management Ltd CEO Muhammad Ejaz said the builders' and developers' share in the gross domestic product (GDP) is less than two per cent. According to him, the shortage of housing units in Pakistan is between 8,000,000 to 10,000,000, which requires 30 billion dollars of revenue.
He said that real estate creates significant employment with social impact and profitability.
According to Abad chairperson Muhammad Hanif Gohar, our biggest raw material is land. He raised a concern before the NAB DG that open auction should be done before allotting land. He said that they do not want to be labelled as 'land grabbers'.
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He further asked Naeem to look into the matter of various non-governmental organisations who were blackmailing builders. "In the absence of basic utilities at our projects, it's not we who suffer but the people who buy those units from us," he said.
Gohar told Naeem that their projects are being sealed by the SBCA. "They are demanding us to bring NOC [no-objection certificate] from Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on a week's notice," he said. To this, Naeem responded that he will request PAF to provide them with NOCs in a month and asked the SBCA DG to give them leverage for a month or so. According to the board's rules, all high-rises must get an NOC from the PAF.
The NAB DG said that due to their interference, the Board of Revenue has cancelled the allotment of 23,000 acres of land worth 1.3 trillion rupees in the open market. He said that 80 per cent of their grievances will be over once the open auction of land is done, adding that it is the government's responsibility to provide shelter to its citizens and NAB will never interfere if any such welfare projects are initiated in the future.
He also clarified that some heads of the government functionaries have received fake calls from the NAB DG, demanding money from them. "If anyone gets such calls, let the NAB office know," he said.
On a question on former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain, Naeem said that NAB has not yet received any reference regarding him. He said that they will start the interrogation once NAB gets the references, since the organisation he works for is complaint-driven.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2015.
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