Home sweet home
Several residents of the capital have ended up losing fortures by becoming victims of sham housing projects.
ISLAMABAD:
Several residents of the capital have ended up losing fortures by becoming victims of sham housing projects. The questionable activity of such housing societies has been raised time and again, but they continue to flourish because of little oversight over them. In a recent meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat, attention was once again drawn on the matter in the hope to protect people from housing fraud.
During the meeting, documents of Habib Rafique’s Housing Society were put forward. Committee chairman Senator Shahid Bugti said that the society had sold hundreds of plots to common people at exorbitant rates without considering a fair price formula. The society has No Objection Certificate(NOC) for 626 plots, and it has sold 1600 of its plots to yet another society, Shaheen Foundation.
Currently, at least 27 housing societies are registered with Capital Development Authority (CDA), but they do not have the required amount of land for the scale of their respective projects.
This has led some housing societies to sell 122 farmhouses to multiple entities on different occasions, accoridng to Bugti. “The same farmhouse was sold again and again to different people,” he said.
He also expressed his dissatisfaction over CDA’s inability to keep a check on these societies. “The civic authority should be more vigilant to such projects as a lot of money is at stake,” he said.
Owner of Habib Rafique Builder Association added that he had submitted documents for NOC in 2006 but the approval was still awaited. “We have invested billions of rupees in our project but are unable to sell the land without NOC from CDA. Such delays lead to further confusion,” he said.
However, CDA Director Planning Ghulam Sarwar Sandhu said that societies seeking NOCs, were not getting them on time due to issues with the submitted documents. “They fail to mention the required information and other facts about the purchased land. This is why the NOC is usually withheld,” he said.
Similarly, CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi conceded to the issue of bogus schemes and said that they presented a huge challenge for the authority. “Land mafia has been encroaching upon various places in or around Islamabad, for example Sector G-12. It is becoming impossible for the CDA to take possession back from all of these areas,” he said.
Members of the committee, Senator Kalsoom Parveen and Fauzia Fakhar, were also wary of some of the schemes being run currently. “Al-Hamra Hills and Avenue, which are active in Zone Four and Five, have dubious land statements. CDA should have issued public notice about the actual positioning of the plots in these schemes,” said Parveen.
The residents of the capital had similar concerns. “We are vulnerable to these bogus schemes as the CDA fails to guide us appropriately,” said Ammar, a resident of Islamabad.
Nasir Iqbal, a teacher, said that housing societies which were selling fake plots should have suo motu action taken against them. “They (schemes) rob people of their life long earnings. I request the Supreme Court to intervene because the authorities have failed to keep a check on them,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2010.
Several residents of the capital have ended up losing fortures by becoming victims of sham housing projects. The questionable activity of such housing societies has been raised time and again, but they continue to flourish because of little oversight over them. In a recent meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat, attention was once again drawn on the matter in the hope to protect people from housing fraud.
During the meeting, documents of Habib Rafique’s Housing Society were put forward. Committee chairman Senator Shahid Bugti said that the society had sold hundreds of plots to common people at exorbitant rates without considering a fair price formula. The society has No Objection Certificate(NOC) for 626 plots, and it has sold 1600 of its plots to yet another society, Shaheen Foundation.
Currently, at least 27 housing societies are registered with Capital Development Authority (CDA), but they do not have the required amount of land for the scale of their respective projects.
This has led some housing societies to sell 122 farmhouses to multiple entities on different occasions, accoridng to Bugti. “The same farmhouse was sold again and again to different people,” he said.
He also expressed his dissatisfaction over CDA’s inability to keep a check on these societies. “The civic authority should be more vigilant to such projects as a lot of money is at stake,” he said.
Owner of Habib Rafique Builder Association added that he had submitted documents for NOC in 2006 but the approval was still awaited. “We have invested billions of rupees in our project but are unable to sell the land without NOC from CDA. Such delays lead to further confusion,” he said.
However, CDA Director Planning Ghulam Sarwar Sandhu said that societies seeking NOCs, were not getting them on time due to issues with the submitted documents. “They fail to mention the required information and other facts about the purchased land. This is why the NOC is usually withheld,” he said.
Similarly, CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi conceded to the issue of bogus schemes and said that they presented a huge challenge for the authority. “Land mafia has been encroaching upon various places in or around Islamabad, for example Sector G-12. It is becoming impossible for the CDA to take possession back from all of these areas,” he said.
Members of the committee, Senator Kalsoom Parveen and Fauzia Fakhar, were also wary of some of the schemes being run currently. “Al-Hamra Hills and Avenue, which are active in Zone Four and Five, have dubious land statements. CDA should have issued public notice about the actual positioning of the plots in these schemes,” said Parveen.
The residents of the capital had similar concerns. “We are vulnerable to these bogus schemes as the CDA fails to guide us appropriately,” said Ammar, a resident of Islamabad.
Nasir Iqbal, a teacher, said that housing societies which were selling fake plots should have suo motu action taken against them. “They (schemes) rob people of their life long earnings. I request the Supreme Court to intervene because the authorities have failed to keep a check on them,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2010.