Millionaire plot-maker: Posh sector plot carver behind bars

FIA says he was carving the plots out of greenbelts and open areas for hefty commissions.

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested a Capital Development Authority (CDA) department head on Monday for his role in creating several residential plots on green belts and open spaces in the closed sectors of Islamabad.

CDA Enforcement Director Naveedul Haq is accused of granting permission to Housing Foundation officials by identifying sites for plot creation in certain sectors, contrary to the fact the sectors are already closed and the Housing Foundation had consumed its reserved quota in the sectors. He was an Estate Management director when the alleged illegal deeds took place.

Such plots had been created on areas reserved for green belts, drains, and other open areas not marked for any construction or other purpose, in sectors I-8 and D-12.

The Housing Foundation is responsible for allotment of plots to federal government employees and attached autonomous organisations, while the CDA is responsible for allotments to the general public. Both the Housing Foundation and CDA had already consumed their residential plots quotas in both sectors, but oftentimes, influential government officials approach CDA officers demanding plots in these sectors by hook or by crook. According to FIA officials, crook is usually the only option.

Such officers need letter issued by the CDA Estate Management-I director, in which the director identifies a space meant for a green belt or other open space and marks it as a site for a residential plot before the process of allotment starts.

FIA officials said the officer filling the EM-I director post would have to be bribed to push through such orders.

“During his tenure as EM-I director, Naveedul Haq identified many sites meant for green belts or as banks for seasonal streams, turned them into residential plots, and earned several million rupees. He has been charged and arrested by the FIA for his misdeeds,” a senior officer of the Authority said.

Such illegal activities are allegedly being carried out by both the Housing Foundation and the CDA, causing losses of open space, greenery and even natural light in some areas. It is because of the creation of such illegal plots that most corner houses in the streets of Sector I-8 are almost touching the road from the front and side.

This has not only caused such sectors to get overcrowded, but also causes an imbalance in power supply requirements for the area, and impacts road and other infrastructure due to unexpected amounts of construction activity.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2013.