‘Imaginary land for sale’

Out of the total 55 housing schemes in Islamabad, 39 are operating without approval by the CDA.

ISLAMABAD: Out of the total 55 housing schemes in Islamabad, 39 are operating without approval by the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

To operate legally in the city, a real estate agency is required to obtain a No objection Certificate (NOC) from the CDA. According to documents obtained by The Express Tribune, CDA has issued NOCs to only 16 out of 55 housing schemes operating in the capital. The remaining housing schemes have either been denied NOCs or are yet to fulfil legal obligations before they can receive NOCs.

CDA Deputy Director General Urban Planning Sarwar Sindhu said, “It is not CDA’s responsibility to take action against illegal housing schemes.” The authority is only authorised to issue NOCs to those housing schemes which fulfil all legal requirements. It is the responsibility of Registrar Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to stop such illegal housing agencies from operating in the city, he added.

When enquired, spokesperson SECP Shakil Chaudhry said that there was no mechanism in place to monitor the operations of real estate developers.

“Although, the authority frequently advertises names of illegal real estate developers in the media to warn citizens,” he said. Chaudhry added, “People should perform their own due diligence before buying property from any real estate developer.”

A CDA official, on conditions of anonymity, said, “Most of these estate agencies have no land to sell and are only collecting money by selling bogus files.” He said that many illegal housing societies have collected full land payments and development charges from thousands of applicants but have not handed over their plots. Parliamentarians, bureaucrats and overseas Pakistanis have also purchased land from such societies, “land which does not exist”. He said the issue has been raised several times in the parliament and in meetings of the standing committees, but no stern action has been taken against these illegal housing societies so far.

Published in The Express Tribune ,October 7^th, 2010.