Islamabad: CDA allotted 68 acres to eight embassies in two years, NA told

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Babar Awan says there are 10 approved katchi abadis in Capital, four to be relocated under Model Urban Shelter Project

By Fazal Sher

ISLAMABAD: Capital Development Authority (CDA) allotted 328,646.33 square yards (67.90 acres) of land to eight embassies in Diplomatic Enclave for construction of new buildings during January 2008 to October 2009, Dr Baber Awan, minister in charge, Cabinet Division, informed the National Assembly (NA) on Thursday.

Awan stated this in a written reply while responding to a query by Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir.

He said CDA allotted 11,858 square yards land to Saudi Arabian Military Attache at the cost of Rs 15,000 per square yard for construction of office-cum-residence and 1,333.333 square yards to Netherlands Embassy in 2008 at the cost of Rs 15,000 per square yard for construction embassy building.

Similarly, the CDA allotted 89,540 square yards land to United State of America (USA) in 2008 and 179,080 square yards to China at the rate of Rs 15,000 per square yard for the construction of their embassy buildings.

He said in 2008 CDA allotted 3,539 square yards lands to Cyprus and in 2009 allotted 27,346 square yards to Canada Embassy 7,200 square yards to Finland Embassy, 8,750 square yards to Tajikistan Embassy, all at the rate of Rs 15,000 per square yard for construction of their respective embassy buildings.

Replying to another query by Parveen Masood Bhatti, Awan informed the NA that at present there were 10 recognised katchi abadis in the city, of which four including Muslim Colony, Essa Nagri, Dhoke Najju and Haq Bahu were decided to be relocated under Model Urban Shelter Project to Frash, Lethrar road.

The remaining six katchi abadis including G-7/1,G-7/2,G-7/3,G-8/1,F-6/2 and F-7/4 would be rehabilitated at existing locations along the nullahs. All other settlements in the city were encroachments and liable to be removed. He said the katchi abadis were established illegally, however, the development work of the present katchi abadis was carried out with the approval of the government.

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