The project was shelved earlier because residents of the area were not ready to give up their illegal occupation of the land without getting high compensation. The CDA had originally allocated 870 acres for the new enclave, while the existing has been established on 764 acres.
Sources inside the CDA informed The Express Tribune that foreign missions contacted the civic body time and again about information on the new enclave, and were willing to pay attractive amount to the authority for its development. The cash-strapped CDA could generate a handsome amount for the enclave’s construction by charging $500 (Rs43,000) per yard and executing numerous public interest projects by allocating 10,000 yards in the area to diplomatic missions, the sources maintained.
A senior official of the CDA said that the authority was reluctant to execute the project because of political pressure, even though the authority could earn great benefit from it.
CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, when probed by a parliamentary committee on Thursday, did not even mention the new diplomatic enclave project which could solve the problems of the annoyed residents in areas where foreign missions have extended their jurisdictions to the main roads and erected security barriers. Instead, he blamed the city administration for not taking them to task.
“We forced some missions on the Margalla Road to vacate the encroached land, similar to how we dealt with the administration of a local hotel that had extended its security barricades to the main road,” Elahi claimed.
It has been learnt that the city managers have chalked out a plan to take action against poor cartpushers and vendors in the city, including residents of ‘katchi abadies’, while the Enforcement Wing refused to enter the Malpur area to confront “dangerous people”.
According to the civic body, the apex court had ordered the CDA to conduct an operations agaionst the illegal occupants of the acquired lan. But, an official revealed, there were still some families in Malpur village who were “not allowing” the CDA to start development work on its acquired land.
The Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Environment had expressed serious concern in the recent past over placing huge blocks around the embassies and missions in different residential sectors.
The parliamentary bodies had already directed the concerned department to make efforts for removing the foreign missions from the
residential areas.
The Supreme Court through a suo motu action directed the illegal occupants to vacate the government land. The CDA chairman had assured the court that the authority would take necessary measures to take back its acquired land.
According to a CDA record, a total of 91 embassies and foreign missions are presently operating in the residential areas. Among them, 48 are offices of the foreign missions and United Nations, while 43 are embassies.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2011.
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