ISLAMABAD: CDA looks away from Capital’s homeless

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

Capital Development Authority (CDA) has failed to make a policy to control housing problems of the city’s fast growing population.

According to sources, 90 percent of the people living in Islamabad do not own a house, so they are living either on rent or in government quarters. Government employees who have rental accommodation are paying almost twice of their ceiling.

House rents are increasing rapidly so this situation is pushing them to get government accommodation even if they had to give bribe for it. On the other hand those who are living in government houses are concerned about their own houses keeping in view that after retirement they have to get accommodation on rent as most of the people who came in the city for the job are not willing to go back to their native cities.

Problems of the private job holders, residing in the city, are increasing day by day. Most of the people who used to live in Islamabad are shifting to Rawalpindi or in suburbs of the city because of high house rents but it is increasing there expenses of transportation because offices and quality educational institutes are located in the main city area.

Sources said CDA formed a policy in 1993 to increase housing units in the city. Zone II and Zone V were chosen to solve housing problems and housing societies were offered to invest in housing sector. Till 2000 only five housing societies started development work in Zone II and zone V because of lack of interest of CDA officials.

In Zone II, there is shortage of underground water so housing societies were reluctant to invest there but in 2002 CDA’s former chairman Kamran Lashari decided to get 100 million gallon water daily from Ghazi Brotha dam by a pipeline for this area. The project was worth Rs 26.36 billion which would have been sufficient for the next 20 year’s requirements. CDA invested initial amount of Rs 300 million but provinces (Sindh and Balochistan) objected that Islamabad cannot get water from Indus River, as it would decrease their share. So the project was postponed. In 2004 proposals of building six dams to store rain water in the suburbs of city was floated but it was not feasible.

Due to assurance of CDA, housing societies created plots 100,000 housing units and more or less 20,000 units were built but due to water shortage and lack of facilities, these projects are still underway.

It is CDA’s responsibility to provide basic facilities in the Zone II and V because if there will be basic facilities, construction of houses will be increased and it will decrease rents of the houses.