The new model village

ISLAMABAD: To establish Kuri as a model village, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to acquire about 10,000 acres of state land in Zone-IV of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Despite having been assured of compensation for their land, the villagers have little trust in CDA’s ability or intention to do so.

CDA has promised to give 4,000 plots to accommodate occupants in the new Kuri Model Village. Officials said that CDA will also build 4,000 new houses in the model village.

Niaz Ahmad, a resident of Saidpur Model Village, said that CDA demolished his house under the development project but the authority has still not compensated him for damages.

Shabbir Abbas, chairperson of Aas, a local NGO that works for the uplift of people in this area, also expressed reservations about CDA and accused it of massive corruption.  Fauji Cement offered CDA to handle garbage disposal problem in Kuri village for free, but instead, the authority initiated a project worth Rs2 billion for a landfill site.

Waqar Ahmad, who lives in the Shahzad Town, said that that CDA officials refused to pay his due compensation payments. “I visited CDA’s Land Directorate several times to receive my payments but they said that payments have been stopped due to shortage of funds.”

Chairperson CDA Imtiaz Inayat Elahi said that due to a financial crunch, the authority has been unable to pay compensation to a large number of people. He said the authority has conducted surveys and a comprehensive strategy is being devised to compensate people for damages.

The authority has failed to clear liabilities worth Rs18 billion from previous development projects in sectors D-13, E-13, F-13, C-13, H-16 and I-17.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2010.