King Hamad University: CDA land directorate preparing ‘bogus’ claims

Mayor vows compensation claims would be verified before paying affectees

ISLAMABAD: As possession of land meant for the King Hamad University of Nursing and Allied Medical Science in Islamabad is secured, some officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) have allegedly started to finalise bogus claims against built up properties (BUPs) in the area.

The CDA had identified 237 kanals of land in Chatta Bakhtawar and Mouja village across Park Road King for the university. Allotment letters for the land had also been issued to the financiers of the varsity – the government of Bahrain – in 2015.



“The CDA acquired this land back in 1981, but on the ground, the authority has been unable to obtain possession,” A CDA official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

Around five months after the project was inaugurated and the ground was broken by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the civic body announced plans to pay the people who had not been properly compensated for their built-up properties when the land was acquired and to secure possession of the land meant for the varsity.  Moreover, the affectees would be granted alternate plots worth Rs6 billion in Maragalla Town.

However, sources told The Express Tribune that the CDA’s Land and Rehabilitation Directorate was allegedly taking money from people to include their bogus claims for built-up property, allegedly under pressure from two political bigwigs of the twin cities.

“When we visited the site, there were around 100 built-up properties on the proposed site,” a CDA Planning Directorate official said.

However, another official said that till a year ago, as many as 137 houses existed in Dhok Azam and its adjoining areas.

But in the wake of CDA’s announcement for compensatory payment, construction activity in the area sped up. Further, the civic body has so far received 826 claims for compensation.

Moreover, sources alleged that some CDA officials were taking Rs500,000 on the pretext of including their names in the list of affectees and had collected around Rs320 million in this regards so far.



Further, to ensure the proper implementation of this scheme, two officers have been brought into CDA on deputation. One of these officers has reportedly been appointed to a top spot in the land directorate while the other has been appointed to another key post.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Mayor and CDA Chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz has assured that compensation would only be paid to the genuine affectees against their built-up property.

He added that they planned to employ available mapping software to determine the properties which were previously built and which had been built later to ensure that ‘fake’ affectees are not compensated.

The decision to set up the state-of-the-art university in the capital was the result of meetings between Prime Minister Nawaz and Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa.

After the land issue arose, the Ministry of National Health Services and Regulation had at the time proposed to give roughly an equivalent size of land near the National Institute of Health (NIH), to build the varsity.

The project is considered as a model and a tangible symbol of the strong bonds of friendship between Pakistan and Bahrain and is considered a gift from the kingdom.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2017.