Hanging in balance: Park Enclave receives overwhelming response

Deadline for submission of applications extended by a week.

ISLAMABAD:

Though city managers have yet to resolve a number of pending issues related to land compensation for Park Enclave, the scheme has received overwhelming response from buyers for nearly 166 residential plots.

The authority on Wednesday extended the December 24 deadline for submission of applications to participate in balloting for the new plots by offering another week to prospective bidders.

“The deadline was extended to facilitate overseas Pakistanis and the general public,” CDA spokesperson Asim Khichi said.

When the scheme was announced in 2011, the CDA disposed of some 614 residential plots of one kanal each. It is now selling off the remaining plots. New plots include 105 plots one-kanal plots and 61 two-kanal plots.

A one-kanal plot at the scheme is worth Rs17.5 million, while a two-kanal plot costs Rs35 million.

According to rough estimates, as many as 1,679 application forms were sold until December 24, Khichi said. The authority has received 712 applications so far, he added.

If one goes by these estimates, the authority has already collected nearly Rs16.8 million by selling application forms, as each form costs Rs10,000 which is non-refundable.

The applicants have been asked to submit a bank draft amounting to 10 per cent of total cost as down payment while submitting applications for balloting.

Unsuccessful applicants will be refunded the down payment within 45-days of balloting, which is scheduled to be held in the first week of January.

Delays over?

The project had been stalled for the past three years for a multitude of reasons. Work on major roads has begun, but the authority has not yet resolved the compensation issues with locals who had refusing to vacate the project site for decades. Many of these occupants had also refused to take the compensation announced by the authority, terming it ‘insufficient’.

A senior CDA official said compensation issues were under consideration and would be resolve within a month.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2014.