Housing societies: Accountability bureau moves to ban ads for illegal schemes

Proposal discussed with TV, print regulators, complaints about CDA’s lethargic attitude .

ISLAMABAD:

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has complained about the Capital Development Authority’s lack of response to its efforts to devise a strategy aimed at disallowing the publication and airing of advertisements for illegal housing schemes in print and electronic media.

During the last decade, Islamabad has witnessed unprecedented growth of illegal housing societies, a direct offshoot of the Capital Development Authority’s failure to provide affordable housing for middle and low income residents.

NAB Rawalpindi Media Officer Muhammad Bilal Khan said that NAB had recently received an enormous number of complaints from affected citizens against illegal housing societies in the capital.

He said that in most complaints, citizens alleged that they signed deals with societies’ representatives after seeing their advertisements in print and electronic media.

Following the rise in complaints, Khan said NAB decided that under its ‘awareness and prevention regime’, it would try to come up with a strategy to bar advertising of housing societies until all codal formalities such as approval of layout plans and obtaining no objection certificates from regulators had been completed.

He confirmed the fact that two meetings had been held so far and that the CDA, despite being invited, did not send a representative.

According to records compiled by the CDA Housing Societies Directorate, as many as 74 schemes across Islamabad are operating illegally. The managements of many of these schemes have not obtained the required NOCs, while in some cases, the layout plans had not been approved.

Record say there are seven illegal residential societies in Zone II, 46 in Zone IV, and 21 in Zone V. Islamabad Capital Territory zoning regulations empowers the CDA to regulate the planning and development of housing schemes while ensuring effective monitoring at latter stages.

Yet, the managements of these illegal housing schemes run media campaigns without any fear or restriction.

Bilal Khan said the meetings were attended by representatives of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), Press Information Department (PID), advertising agencies and NAB officials.

He said it had been agreed in the last meeting that strong coordination among all regulators and marketing and advertising agencies would be needed for verification of credentials of housing societies to ensure that no advertisement is run without proof that the client housing society had completed all codal formalities and gotten the necessary permissions from regulators.

It was also agreed that a broad campaign of social service messages for the general public would run on TV to highlight important considerations that buyers should make before purchasing property.

CDA Housing Societies Director Faraz Malik told The Express Tribune that he appreciated the step taken by the NAB while admitting that he was supposed to attend the meeting on behalf of the CDA. “Due to official assignments, I was unable to attend and informed the NAB officials,” he said.

He said the CDA had prepared a set of proposals on the issue and it would be presented in the next scheduled meeting with NAB. Malik said a list of legal and illegal housing schemes had already been displayed at the CDA’s website to guide the general public.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2014.