Traders’ woes: No rent control act in the city of legislators?

‘Absence of law allowing rents to go unchecked, worsen inflation’.

The formulation and implementation of a balanced rent control act in Islamabad is of utmost importance.

Speaking to a delegation of representatives of various markets, Islamabad Traders Action Committee Secretary Information and Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Senior Vice President Khalid Chaudhry expressed these views, adding that such an act would help reduce prices and bring down inflation in the city, according to a press release.

He scoffed at the lack of a balanced rent control act in a city where laws for the entire country are made. In the absence of an act, property rents remain high and cause high inflation in the federal capital, he said. If this trend continues, Islamabad will soon become one of the costliest cities in the world, he cautioned.

Chaudhry further elaborated that a consensus document for the rent control act was prepared in consultation with all stakeholders during the previous government’s tenure. The proposal was approved by the federal cabinet and sent to the national assembly. However, it remained in the national assembly for over a year and the government’s term expired in the meantime.

The document had proposed a conciliation committee comprising representatives of traders, ICCI, administration and landlords to decide matters of forced eviction before resorting to the court. If implemented, 95 per cent of cases would be resolved by this committee.

Chaudhry acknowledged the traders’ hard work in promoting their business, which goes to waste when they receive notices for evicting shops or increase in shop rent, making it hard to manage the business. He said that the Islamabad Traders Action Committee has decided to launch collective resistance for forced evictions of traders, which could create law and order problems in the city.

Keeping in mind that all political parties had made promises for the provision of a balanced rent control act in Islamabad in their election manifestoes, Chaudhry added that they should now honour their word. He appealed to Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif to personally intervene and hold all forced evictions in abeyance until the implementation of a rent act in Islamabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2014.