Traders want rent control law passed before term ends

CDA urged to launch development work in Sector G-10/4

ISLAMABAD: Traders in the capital have called on the government to make sure that rent control law, pending before the lower house of Parliament is passed before their term ends later this month.

They have also urged the civic administrators to launch much-needed development work in Sector G-10/4 market.

This was urged by Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Sheikh Amir Waheed during a meeting between the chamber’s Traders Welfare Association (TWA) and a delegation of Traders Welfare Association in Sector G-10/4.

Waheed said that due to the inattentive attitude of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), no development work has been undertaken in the markets for the past few years due to which traders were facing difficulties in promoting their business activities.

He suggested that such work should be undertaken on priority to facilitate the growth of trading activities.

Discussing the rent control law, he said that the absence of such a law has resulted in incidents where traders were forced from their shops.

This, he stated, was becoming serious since shopkeepers felt that their businesses were in jeopardy.

Waheed pointed out that an amended bill of the rent control law for Islamabad has been pending in the National Assembly (NA) for a long time. He urged that the government to pass it before its tenure ends so that this issue of traders can be resolved once and for all.

TWA President Zafar Gujar, TWA General Secretary Usman Khan and Group Leader Chaudhary Irfan said that CDA had awarded a contract for the construction of a bridge to connect the Sector G-10/4 Market, but construction work on the bridge has yet to begin, hence it was delaying people‘s easy access to the market.



They urged that CDA should ensure early completion of the bridge to facilitate the customers.

They further complained that the CDA’s neglect of the market over the past four years could be felt in all the broken footpaths, the lack of streetlights and filtration plants while the condition of sanitation was unsatisfactory.



They emphasized that the CDA should start development works in the market without further delay so that business activities in the market could flourish.

ICCI Senior Vice President Muhammad Naveed, ICCI Vice President Nisar Mirza, Chairman Founder Group Zubair Ahmed Malik and former ICCI president Khalid Chaudhry also spoke at the occasion and echoed the ICCI president’s concern over the rent control act.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2018.