NAB chairman takes notice of land allotment irregularities in Gwadar

Says Gwadar Industrial Estate Development Authority (GIEDA) had turned into a state agency

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has taken notice of the alleged irregularities in commercial land allotment in Gwadar in violation of rules by the Gwadar Industrial Estate Development Authority (GIEDA).

According to a statement issued by the NAB on Saturday, allotment of industrial and commercial plots in Gwadar was marked by nepotism, and ignored the genuine investors costing the government massively.

“The practice caused immense financial loss running into millions of rupees to the government,” said the statement, quoting the NAB chairman.



Highlighting the importance of progress in Balochistan, the NAB chairman said that economic development in the province was­­ linked with the development in Gwadar, but some corrupt elements were compromising that progress for petty financial gains.

In a stern warning, the NAB chairman said, “Those creating hurdles in the economic growth of Gwadar through corrupt practices will be dealt with, with iron hands.”

NAB record shows that many industrial and commercial plots in Gwadar were allotted to relatives and other influential by GIEDA in violation of rules and regulation.

Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal said it seemed that GIEDA had turned into a real estate agency distributing valuable commercial properties to relatives and other preferred buyers by ignoring genuine investors.

Commenting on the allotments, the NAB chairman said that the set criteria mentioning that an industrial plot would only be allotted to industrialists having real experience in running industries was violated. “Several applications of genuine industrialists were thrown into the dustbin” without being considered, he said.