Opening of stalled sectors becoming a riddle

[Salman]

Opening of stalled sectors becoming a riddle

Although the ruling elite seem to be more conscious about focusing on uplift of Islamabad maybe because of election year, the city managers are still waiting for the federal cabinet decision on opening of stalled residential sectors.

The authority had failed to develop any residential sector for the last 24 years as Sector F-11 was the last established in 1987.

A newly formed Prime Minister’s Task Force held several meetings with Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) high ups and stressed the need for giving top priority to opening stalled residential sectors.

“The task force gave a list of priority projects to the CDA and the top most issue is opening of stalled sectors,” said the CDA Spokesman Ramzan Sajid.

He said the task force was apprised that the CDA was waiting for the decisions of the federal cabinet on two proposals. In the first one, the CDA sought powers for having Public Private Partnership to go for joint ventures with private parties for opening and developing residential sectors and under the second one the civic body required permission to start housing in Zone-III, the area close to Margalla Hills which has so far been out of municipal limits and no housing is allowed there.

The authority seeks approval of Public-Private-Partnership on the directives of Supreme Court which last year cancelled a joint venture between the CDA and a cooperative housing society to develop Northern Strip, a commercial area in sector E-11 on the point that CDA Ordinance does not allow for joint ventures.

Many town planners believe that without joint ventures with the private sector the CDA cannot open the stalled sectors because the financial health of the civic body does not allow it to pay heavy compensation to the landholders for their land and for their built up property (houses).

According to the CDA’s own reports there are more than a dozen stalled sectors in the federal capital but there was no mention of the remedy of the stalled sectors in the budget.

These sectors are: G-12, F-12, F-13 F-14, F-15, E-12, E-13, E-14, C-14, C-15, C-16, I-16 and I-17.

“We need at least Rs30 billion to pay compensation to the landholders of the stalled sectors which we cannot afford under the prevailing financial situation,” a senior official of the CDA in its finance wing said.

However, real estate experts say contrary to it. They claim that the authority can earn more than Rs180 billion by selling only commercial area in stalled sectors and the income to be generated from selling residential plots can be enough to pay compensation amount and laying of infrastructure there.

The CDA Director General Planning Sarwar Sandu estimated that the commercial area of a sector, which is available in all sectors in shape of Markez and Class-III shopping centres or small markets, is auctioned at least for Rs15 billion. And the auctioning of 12 sectors’ commercial area can help generate over Rs180 billion.

Even in that case if Rs30 billion are required for paying compensation, the authority can earn more then Rs150 billion by opening stalled sectors.

Sometimes the issues of land acquisition become so complex that the CDA bosses get reluctant to put themselves into these matters and concentrate on other issues which require less effort but produce quick results and more appreciation.

Anyway, one has to realise that the issue of land acquisition is becoming a riddle by every passing day as the number of claimants/landholders is swelling with the passage of time.

It has been observed that sometimes the people within the CDA intentionally do not want to resolve land acquisition problem due to vested interests and to gain as much as they can from it. That is the reason after passing more than 50 years, since the establishment of Islamabad, they have failed to maintain computerized record of landholders in Islamabad who are commonly called land “Affectees”.

As there is no computerised list of land affectees available with the CDA these land holders, usually after getting compensation in one sector, sit in the next sectors to get same benefit again and again in connivance with the CDA officials.

No doubt that the CDA is facing acute financial crunch these days and unable to start new uplift projects and new sectors, but it has been agreed by all concerned quarters inside and outside the CDA that the only way to get rid of the crisis is opening of new sector as the authority is expected to fetch over Rs15 billion by selling only commercial area of a single residential sector.