Grand Hyatt, The Centaurus: Faulty towers under the scanner

Public Accounts Committee orders halt to construction .

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) ordered on Thursday to stop work on Grand Hyatt hotel after officials revealed that the two tallest buildings, including The Centaurus, that are situated in the heart of the country’s capital were prone to disaster due to faults in construction design.

The PAC also directed the anti-corruption watchdog to probe the land allotment deal signed between the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and BNP group — the owners of Grand Hyatt hotel and service apartment.

Headed by Syed Khursheed Shah, the PAC ordered the CDA to stop the work immediately on the under-construction Grand Hyatt Hotel and services apartment. The PAC directed the authority to get a structure assessment report and soil testing from Pakistan Engineering Council after the officials revealed that on a structure designed to construct a 13-story tower, the owners were constructing a 33-story building.



It also directed the authority to conduct a structure assessment report of Centaurus – the other skyscraper, after the owners constructed 31-story building on the approved structure for 20-story tower. The Centaurus also constructed an additional basement, in violation of the by-laws.

The PAC was told that in July 2005 the government had doled out 13.5 acres of land for Grand Hyatt project at total cost of Rs4.8 billion, which comes to just Rs75,000 per square yard. Three months before Grand Hyatt hotel deal, the government had allocated 7.2 acres of land for The Centaurus at Rs6.7 billion that came to Rs190,000 per square yard.

Against the then cabinet’s decision to recover Rs4.8 billion in seven years , the management of the civic body had agreed to get a mere 15% of the auction amount in 45 days while the rest of the amount was to be paid out in 15 years, said an official of the audit department.  However, so far the BNP group that owns the Grand Hyatt project paid Rs997 million and was falling behind its commitments.

Shah observed that the land was worth Rs30 billion and so far the BNP group has raised Rs12 billion by selling the apartments. He said he had information that the owners were selling two-room apartments at Rs80 million and three-room apartments at Rs110 million.

The PAC ordered the civic body to register cases against those who finalised the deal besides asking the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to check income tax records of the BNP group and the buyers of the apartments. It asked the NAB to thoroughly investigate the deal and book all those who made the decision of doling out the state’s land for peanuts.

“Due to faulty structure, the government should demolish the building,” said PAC member Junaid Anwar Chaudhry. The skyscraper is adjacent to the Constitution Avenue that hosts the main government offices including the Parliament House, Supreme Court of Pakistan and Prime Minister’s Office.

The NAB official revealed that the BNP group was doing the construction work by obtaining a loan of Rs1.62 billion from the Bank of Punjab in 2007. It has also defaulted on loan payments and was now seeking a rescheduling.

The Centaurus

The PAC also ordered the CDA to recover the outstanding Rs2.6 billion dues from the original owners of The Centaurus within a month. It barred the civic body from issuing the completion certificate while directing it to disconnect electricity to the building.

The PAC member, Junaid Anwar, said that the cracks had started appearing in The Centaurus building.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2014.

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