FWO abandons housing project over legal wrangle

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

Thursday, February 18, 2010
By Ali Raza

LAHORE

THE Frontier Works Organisation’s team, engaged in developing the Avenue-1 Housing Scheme of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) on the Raiwind Road, has left the project due to the ongoing litigation between the authority and stakeholders.

Sources said the delay of about four years in the completion of the mega project, launched for providing housing facilities to government employees, had raised serious doubts over the performance of the authority, especially its legal wing, which took the matter casually without considering the huge investment of public in the project.

When introduced, cost of the scheme was about worth Rs 3.5 billion and it was scheduled to be completed in 2005. Later, the completion date was extended to 2007 but in 2010 the fate of over 10,000 allottees was still hanging in balance.

To complete the work steadily, the LDA had engaged the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) in development work of the scheme. The scheme comprised over 4,906 plots of one kanal and 6,077 plots of 10 marlas. The LDA awarded the contract to the FWO in the mid of 2004. Sources said award of development contract was also delayed about a year and in the past no LDA official was questioned about the delay. They said that since its conception, the society faced various controversies due to which the development work never gained momentum at any stage.

The sources said that the actual problem, which delayed the completion of the scheme, was that there were a large number of court cases filed against the LDA. These cases included legal suits by seven other housing schemes because the LDA also acquired over 2,500 kanal of their land. They said the LDA had acquired 150 kanals of the Punjab Civil Secretariat Housing Scheme, 185 kanals of the Punjab Board of Revenue Cooperative Housing Society, 360 of the Public Health Engineering Housing Society, 350 of the Islamic Research Scholar Housing Scheme, 500 kanal of the Chiniot Housing Scheme and land of the EME Housing Scheme and the Mumtaz Housing Scheme.

Sources maintained that after the LDA acquired the land of seven housing schemes, they also reached the court and got stay against the authority’s land acquisition and halted the development work. Sources claimed that the litigation cell of the authority had failed in pursuing the cases and eventually the cases remained pending in the courts. They said at present there were a number of stay orders against the scheme and the LDA had to activate its legal cell to vacate these stay orders to complete the scheme.

Other disputes which also delayed the completion of the scheme were illegal encroachments and disputes over the increase in prices of plots, sources said, adding that the LDA had announced the scheme in January 2003, asking for an initial deposit of Rs 216,000 for one-kanal plots and Rs 108,000 for 10-marla plots. The rest was to be paid in six instalments of Rs 54,000 (one-kanal plots) and Rs 27,000 (ten-marla plots) each till October 30, 2004, sources maintained. However, at the end of 2004, the LDA directed the applicants for plots to deposit six extra instalments over which the applicants established a welfare society and started expressing resentment over the increase in the price of the plots by the authority. The welfare body also challenged the LDA on the ground that the authority could not raise the price after starting the scheme and there was no legal room for any such increase.

Sources in the FWO said the organisation’s team, engaged in the scheme, had left work due to the long standing and pending court cases between the LDA and land owners. They said the FWO had completed the development work on the land, which was cleared by the LDA, and FWO was not responsible for the delay in the project. They said the FWO’s unit completing the development work at the scheme was sent to Gujranwala to complete another project. They said presently, the organisation was only working on a drain in the scheme, which was a project of the Punjab government. Sources said that in April 2009, the FWO authorities asked the LDA to hand over full land, otherwise, the organisation would abandon the project. They said that some four days back, the LDA told them regarding acquisition of some more land in the scheme but the organisation refused to start operation again.

Sources further claimed that the FWO had also asked the LDA director general to visit its office in the scheme so that they could brief him about the difficulties and financial losses they were suffering but LDA DG, who visited the scheme, kept the FWO officials waiting for him.

When contacted, the LDA’s spokesman said LDA Director General Omar Rasool had already directed the LDA’s legal wing to vigorously pursue the court cases pertaining to Avenue-1 Housing Scheme. Answering a question about the responsibility of the LDA’s legal cell for not handling the cases properly, he said several influential elements pressurised the authority against contesting cases in courts. He said on Tuesday last, the collector land acquisition completed acquisition of nine kanal land in the scheme and handed over it to the LDA staff for completing the 150 feet wide main road of the society. He said the authority had received a demand note of electricity from the Lahore Electric Supply Company and the LDA would release the money to Lesco within the next few days.

Over a question that LDA recently razed properties of people in the scheme despite the fact that they had stay orders from court, he said the authority did not raze any disputed property. He said only encroachments were razed.

Over a question that the FWO team had stopped operation at the scheme and was shifted to another project in Gujranwala, the LDA spokesman said the contract with the FWO was alive and the LDA DG had given a deadline for six months to the FWO for completing the development work. He said the LDA was in the process of clearing the land, which would be handed over to the FWO for completing the development process and the organisation should complete the entire development process under the contract. When contacted, the FWO spokesman said that the organisation was ready to talk with the LDA over the issue.