The senators directed CDA Chairman to personally attend the next committee meeting and present details about the G-9 plot, Kurri Model Village and other outstanding issues. PHOTO: FILE
Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials were forced to give timelines for two of the stalled projects brought up by a senate panel which called the agency’s credibility into question.
At a senate standing committee meeting on Wednesday, members said the CDA had failed to complete major development projects on time. Running through the list, they said Kurri Model Village was yet to be developed, Park Enclave was stuck because of problems related to possession of land, thousands of illegal residents were living in G-12 and the water supply scheme in Shah Allah Ditta village had been delayed for 16 years.
CDA Estate Member Shaista Sohail told the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet and Capital Administration and Development that they were working on Kurri Model Village and the issue would be resolved by October 10. CDA had acquired land in Kurri village and but never allotted compensatory plots to owners. She said she was working with the deputy commissioner to compile lists of actual owners of the acquired land. CDA officials present at the meeting said Park Enclave’s issues would be resolved soon, with allotment letters expected to be issued by April 2014.
“Allotment letters were issued despite non-payment of instalments,” CDA Finance Member Azhar Ali Chaudhry told senators. “We are working to prevent such incidents.” Chaudhry, the acting CDA chairman, was replying to a series of scathing questions related to CDA’s estate affairs.
CDA chairman Nadeem Hassan Asif is away on an official visit.
CDA officials admitted that the agency’s rules were violated in the allotment of a commercial plot in G-9 Markaz and assured the senate panel that no exceptions would be made in future.
A judicial commission formed by the Islamabad High Court had raised concerns about controversial plot sale in Sector G-9 and the rapid pace of construction work on the site. The commission had recommended that CDA should penalise the people responsible. Plot 29 was originally allotted to the late film star Rangeela for a cinema, but the allotment was cancelled due to non-payment. It was then re-zoned as a commercial plot by the CDA board and allegedly sold for Rs500 million below market value.
Senator Kulsoom Parveen, the chairperson of the standing committee, accused CDA officials of not being forthright about the plot during the commission’s proceedings. “Top CDA officials deceive every government,” she said. “Even the judicial commission was kept in the dark about the G-9 commercial plot to hide CDA officials’ corruption.”
Chaudhry said the allotment letter for the plot was issued before 70 per cent payment of dues and the cheques submitted as payment were also below the required monetary value.
Members of the senate standing committee did not cut CDA any slack. They said despite repeated reminders, CDA officials had failed to provide information about its auction procedure and assets of CDA auction committee members.
The senators directed CDA Chairman to personally attend the next committee meeting and present details about the G-9 plot, Kurri Model Village and other outstanding issues.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2013.
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