Rebuttal: EOBI deal as per rules, say DHA officials

ISLAMABAD:

Officials at the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Islamabad have said that the land developer had asked the Employees’ Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) to take possession of the sold properties in January 2013.

According to them, EOBI submitted a request to DHA for the purchase of two properties – 221 kanal land in the Business Square and 100 kanal land in the Business Corridor – in September 2011. They added that the sale agreement was concluded with ‘mutual consent, and subsequently the properties were sold to EOBI in January 2012.

The officials maintained that since then, allotment letters for both properties have been issued to EOBI. Moreover, they said, DHA had requested EOBI to take possession of the land in January 2013.

According to DHA officials, the rates for the two properties were ‘quite competitive’ and were established after the advertisement and sale of adjacent properties in the same time-frame. They maintained that DHA even offered EOBI a 5% discount on sale price.

The officials said development of infrastructure and utilities in the Business Square area were complete, and were 90% complete in the Business Corridor area. This, they maintained, was ‘acknowledged and documented’ by the FIA teams who visited the areas on July 15 this year.

DHA officials said the development of the two areas may also be evaluated by Nespak, ‘as suggested by the FIA in its interim report submitted to the Supreme Court’.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.