CDA cancels 'dubious' petrol pump lease

Authority will hold transparent bidding to allot state property

ISLAMABAD:

Authorities have cancelled the lease of a petrol pump given to Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Awan Associates at a very low rate for 33 years in the F-6 Supermarket, a major commercial centre in the federal capital. It has now been decided that the allotment of the petrol pump site will be done under transparent bidding.

Sources in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said that the authority had taken possession of the petrol pump site after the cancellation of the lease. Both PSO and Awan Associates are defaulters of the CDA of more than Rs480 million. The lease of the said petrol pump was allegedly given by the Staff Welfare Committee in 2005 while misusing/exceeding its powers, they said and added that a number of illegal encroachments were also established on the land of the petrol pump, contrary to the agreement. The CDA had also issued several notices to remove encroachments but Awan Associates did not pay any attention to this either, nor did the encroachments get removed.

On the other hand, the CDA issued more than half a dozen notices for the payment of arrears, but Awan Associates paid no heed and failed to deposit the arrears in the government treasury.

Similarly, the encroachments and other businesses being run at the petrol pump site were not stopped. The CDA swung into action due to the non-implementation of its repeated written orders.

The CDA administration has now decided to allot the prime site under open bidding in order to make the allotment of the petrol pump site transparent, for which advertisements will be published in newspapers. A committee has also been formed under the chairmanship of the director-general admin to make the open bidding process transparent.

Cases related to the said petrol pump site also remained pending in the courts for a long time. The CDA legal wing pursued cases actively and succeeded in winding them those.

Sources further said that the 33-year lease of the said petrol pump site was to expire in 2029, but every administration of the CDA had been turning a blind eye to it for the last 21 years.