The Capital Development Authority has leased out over 3,300 square metres at the juncture of Agha Khan Road and Ataturk Avenue in Sector F-5 to the hotel, even though renting out green belts for commercial purposes is prohibited under the CDA Ordinance.
The area has a history of unusual wheeling and dealing. In 2012, the previous management of the CDA struck a controversial agreement with the hotel for use of the land for the same purpose.
That agreement was signed by a CDA wing without obtaining the necessary permission from CDA high ups. Following the decision, the Enforcement Wing of the authority took control of the plot and evicted hotel security staff from the area.
But now, the authority has changed its stance, marked the site as right-of-way of Agha Khan Road, and granted the necessary permissions to the hotel.
“The Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) has issued a license to a hotel after completing all codal formalities and obtaining necessary permissions from the Planning, Administration and Environment wings,” said DMA Director Hamza Shafqat. He also insisted that the land is not a green belt.
He said as under the agreement, the hotel would pay Rs7.5 million per annum to the CDA as rent. He said a committee with representation from the DMA, Planning, Environment and Finance wings of the authority decided the case and issued the license following approval from the CDA chairman.
He said the license was extendable after one year, but would be renegotiated at that time. He said it has been made mandatory for the lessee to keep the green character of the land intact.
Green today, grey tomorrow
Questions, however, remain over what law or rule was applied to justify changing the status of the land.
A CDA board decision from 2009, where the board allowed utilisation of open spaces for the purpose of car parking, was used to build up the case.
Under that decision open spaces were rented out to NADRA, NAB, KRL Hospital, different foreign missions, and several cellular companies.
Government departments are not charged any fee for this, but private firms must pay rent.
Though the DMA claimed that the necessary permissions had been granted by all departments, some of the high ups of different wings expressed ignorance over the issue and claimed their respective departments had not been consulted prior to the approval.
A senior official said that under the CDA Ordinance, protection of green belts in Islamabad was one of the prime responsibilities of the CDA.
CDA chairman Maroof Afzal was unavailable for comment.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 15th, 2014.
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