CDA eyes more plot auctions in future

Resource-stressed city using feedback from public, transparency to improve governance

ISLAMABAD: With the population of the city more than doubling over the past 20 years, the city’s administrators are looking to auction off more land in the capital over the coming years.

In this regard, the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) has chalked out a plan to improve business and economic activities, creating employment opportunities in the federal capital. This was stated by Islamabad Mayor and Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz after inaugurating a commercial centre in Sector F-6 Markaz.

Aziz said that the IMC, with the help of its elected representatives, was committed to bringing the rural areas of the capital at par with the urban areas. However, he admitted that they were facing some difficulties since this was their first-ever experience of operating a municipal system in Islamabad.

He added that they were trying to overcome these difficulties and to make the municipal system of elected representatives fully functional to shape Islamabad into a beautiful city

Aziz said that they had improved the financial discipline of CDA, ensuring good governance and transparency. Moreover, he said that they had been focusing on the affairs of the CDA and that the management system had been improved with financial discipline.

The mayor added that in the past, commercial plots had been auctioned without providing due facilities. This, he claimed, caused great difficulties for the trading community of the capital since it led to delays in construction, increasing the cost of construction and slowing the pace of business in the city.

To resolve this, he said that he had met with representatives of traders, particularly with representatives of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI). The meetings, Aziz said, provided valuable feedback from the trading community, including suggestions, which helped improved policies.

As part of their trader-friendly policies, the mayor said that no commercial plots would be auctioned in the capital without the providing facilities first.

He added that the commercial plots auctioned earlier this year, in a transparent manner, broke all previous records with the traders actively participating in it.

In view of the consistent increase in the capital’s population, Aziz said that he had directed the concerned departments of the CDA to auction additional plots to meet the future needs of the residents.

He hoped that their policies would further strengthen the confidence of traders on the authority as they try to resolve long-standing issues of the city including extending the lease period to traders and construction of additional storeys to plazas.

He said that due to the trader-friendly policies of CDA, different types of national and international brands were bringing their businesses to the city.  “Being the chairman of the CDA, my priority is to promote business and economic activities as the geographic position of Islamabad is of immense importance,” Aziz said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2017.