Business community seeks seat on CDA board

ICCI says 90% of its issues linked to the authority

ISLAMABAD:

The apex body of the business community of the capital has demanded a say in running the affairs of the city.

Almost 90 per cent affairs of the business community of the federal capital are related to the Capital Development Authority (CDA), therefore it will be appropriate to give it representation on the CDA Board of Directors, said Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan.

According to a statement issued on Friday, the ICCI president urged the government to include every sitting president of ICCI in the CDA Board to protect the genuine interests of private sector during the policymaking process of the civic body and help resolve key issues of the business community. Yasir urged that CDA to set up a One Window Operation in true spirit in order to facilitate the business community and the citizens of Islamabad in their CDA related day-today issues.

He said that the business community had to visit various departments of CDA for various services for redressing issues, which consume a lot of their precious time. However, the availability of one window facility would save them from many troubles as they would get all the required services of CDA from one counter.

The president said this while addressing a delegation of CDA Officers Association that visited ICCI led by its Secretary General Namat Ullah Masood. Yasir Ilyas Khan said that CDA's approval process of commercial buildings plans was quite lengthy as investors had to wait for months and even for years for approval of buildings plans and urged the authority to speed up this process for expeditious approval of commercial buildings plans that would give boost to investment in the federal capital.

ICCI Senior Vice President Fatma Azim and Vice President Abdul Rehman Khan said that the civic body had made manifold increase in the property tax and water and allied charges, which had enhanced the cost of doing business in the city and stressed that CDA should rationalise these taxes to facilitate the growth of business activities.