Delay in approval of building plans by CDA irks investors

[Salman]

The investors buying commercial plots in the capital are facing an uncertain situation due to delay in approval of designs and plans of their buildings leading to unrest among them.

Sources in the CDA told ‘The News’ that the meetings of the Design Vetting Committee (DVC), which is a schedule matter, have not been held for the last many months to take up plans of commercial buildings.

“Due to delay in approval of building designs, the construction cost of our commercial buildings is on the rise,” an investor said.

The investor, who did not want to be named, said that the concerned CDA officials should call the DVC meeting to approve or disapprove designs and building plans so that they could know about the shortcomings in their designs.

Another investor regretted that under the CDA bye-laws, the civic body is not time-bound to approve or return the building plan, whereas the allottee of a plot, whether it is commercial or residential, is required to meet different deadlines.

Sources said that now the CDA is getting ready to open a Pandora’s box as some senior officials want that the designs of mega projects, which had already been approved, should be taken up for review again. “It will start a new tradition in the CDA and create problems not only for the CDA itself but also for the investors,” sources said.

It has also been learnt that the minutes of the last DVC meeting are yet to be signed by the concerned officials raising concerns among the affected investors. A spokesman for the CDA, when contacted by ‘The News,’ said that the next DVC meeting would be held on December 3 to take up pending cases of building designs. The spokesman, however, declined to comment whether the CDA is going to open old cases of designs already approved by the DVC.

The CDA management needs to amend its bye-laws to set a time-frame for DVC for approving or rejecting a building plan