CDA to launch operation against illegal wedding halls along Margalla Road

Marquees to be given month-long deadline to stop bookings

ISLAMABAD: As part of its ongoing operation against illegal construction in Sector E-11, the civic agency is planning to crack down on illegal wedding halls and marquees on Margalla Road.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA), however, is reluctant to take action against these wedding halls immediately since residents have booked these halls out in advance for weddings and other events.



“We shall give Marquees one month to stop taking bookings while the public will also be told through public notices regarding the illegality of these projects and to refrain from booking these marquees for their weddings or any other events,” said Shafi Marwat, of the CDA Building Control Section-II (BCS-II).

While talking to The Express Tribune, Marwat advised that the public should also desist from selling or purchasing these properties.

According to a CDA document, there are around 11 wedding halls and marquees along Margalla Road including The Monal, The Wedding, Millenium, Aura Grande, Paragon, Taj, Zakias, Blessings Clay Oven, Khiva, and The Empire.

Due to the unplanned and illegal construction of these convention halls, residents of the area are facing difficulties including traffic congestion on the roads outside these halls and encroaching on key drains. Moreover, the cluster of illegal high-rises creates an obstacle in delivering emergency services, apart from blighting the overall look of the area.

Last week, the CDA sealed 17 under-construction high-rise buildings in Sector E-11 near Golra which were being built without due approval from the civic body.

Islamabad Mayor and CDA Chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz had said that their patience on unauthorised construction in Sector E-11 had exhausted and that no one will be allowed to destroy the beauty or the symmetry of the capital.

In the past, CDA negligence saw a mushroom growth of unregulated high-rise buildings in Sector E-11.



The Margalla Road — the size of a service road — is the only road which leads to or from Sector E-11 and Sector D-12. This is quite unlike other thoroughfares in the capital. While entering the sector, one is greeted with several marquees along Margalla Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2017.