‘CDA hindrance to every project’

FGEHF chief opens can of worms against the civic body

ISLAMABAD: A government housing scheme for its employees has announced that it will not announce any new projects until and unless it acquires and obtains possession of the land, adding that the civic authority of the federal capital is a hindrance to any and every project.

This was stated by the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation Director General (DG) Waseem Bajwa on Friday while addressing a news briefing. During the briefing, he said that work on the Green Enclave in Bara Kahu had begun.

“We have nearly 170,000 registered members,” he said, adding that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is a hindrance in every project.



“If the CDA does not want to work, then it should let others work,” Bajwa stated, adding, we have facilitated residents.

In a swipe at his predecessors, Bajwa said that whichever projects had been launched previously by the foundation, the land for the project was not available.

“Projects were launched first, and then search for land began, due to which issues came up, this will not happen during my tenure,” he promised.

The FGEHF director general added that work on the Naya Pakistan Housing project in Sector G-13 has been done previously and issues relating to water supply and others, have been addressed to a major extent.

“We gave Rs1.2 billion to CDA for Sector G-13 but it did nothing and did not even provide the expenditure details of the Rs1.2 billion,” Bajwa complained.

Regarding projects in Sector G-14, he said that there were issues in securing possession of land there with built-up properties of residents along with other issues in Sector G-14/I, G-14/II and G-14/III and that they require Rs7.5 billion to fully resolve it.

“There is an option to auction the Sector G-14 Markaz to raise the funds for this purpose but the CDA is not allowing us to auction the land,” he said exasperatedly, “what can we do?”

He added that if they turned to FGEHF members and those who have already paid for land to fork out an extra Rs9 billion then it would be unfair towards them.

He added that issues with Sectors G-15 and G-16 are pending in court and no progress can be made there until the courts decide the case.

Regarding the Thalliyan project, Bajwa said that they have given a final notice to the builder.

He added that 17,000 members who have applied for the Thalliyan and Bara Kahu have submitted their instalments as well.

“We will undertake all the projects as per a joint venture policy,” the FGEHF director general said.

In this regard, Bajwa disclosed that they have received over 187 proposals while more than 40 people associated with the construction business have expressed their serious desire to work with the foundation.

He added that the best way to accommodate the rising population is in apartments and that they have received a lot of proposals to build apartments in the densely populated urban centres of Karachi and Lahore. However, with a current focus on the federal capital, Bajwa said that they aim to build apartment complexes which are ground plus 25 to 30 floors.

“However, the CDA says that permission of only ground plus nine floors can be granted. When we argue that the prime minister has ended the ban on high-rise apartment buildings in the city, the CDA says that the ban has only been lifted for the blue area,” he said, adding that the FGEHF intends to take the matter back to the federal cabinet for a definitive solution for the matter.

In answer to a question, he said that owing to the issues they keep running into, particularly with the CDA, they had presented a bill in the parliament to turn the foundation into an authority on their own along with the likes of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA).

Bajwa added that the housing foundation was ready to work with CDA but it appeared that the CDA itself does not want to work or does not have the capacity for the work.

“CDA collects revenue but doesn’t return it to us,” he further said.

Answering a question he said that work on the Green Enclave in Bara Kahu has begun and the contracted company is obliged to complete work on it within two years.



Bajwa, however, conceded that the Supreme Court’s decision to halt constructions on Green Enclave-II is proving to be a hindrance as around 800 kanals of land procured for the project cannot be used owing to the court’s directives.

He added that the project can be shifted to land located adjacent to the original site where people have properties but the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) is proving to be a hindrance there.

He added that they were aiming to build 4,000 apartments in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi alone so that issues of employees can be resolved.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2019.