December 4, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 8, 1424

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KARACHI, Dec 3: In a surprise move, the Balochistan government has scrapped all its housing projects, including the prestigious Sangar Housing Project, in Gwadar district by cancelling the allotment of all the plots granted to general public, defence personnel and other federal agencies.

No reason was given in the official notification. The notification dated Nov 19 received here and issued by the provincial local government says: “The Government of Balochistan is pleased to cancel all the allotment of plots, including Defence and Federal agencies with immediate effect.”

It further says that the district coordination officer, Gwadar, and project director, Sangar Housing Scheme, Gwadar, “shall resume possession of all such plots by vacating the same, in case physical possession thereof to the ex-allottees”.

According to observers, the abrupt decision will beyond any doubt affect the investment climate in the Gwadar district where the federal government is seriously engaged in the construction of a deep-sea port and a coastal highway.

Most of the observers relate the decision to the unwise decision of the former Nawaz government when it seized foreign exchange accounts without considering the adverse economic implications of the decision.

They termed the decision a big blunder as it will restrict the plans for developing Gwadar into a modern port city and prove a stinging blow to the development activity in the province.

Many believe that anti-Gwadar forces have now finally succeeded to penetrate into major decision-making setup at the top level, to the detriment of Gwadar’s future.

The decision has already created a great resentment among the locals who are the major stakeholders as majority of plots were allotted to them and those who have sold their plots to investors from other cities of Pakistan and now have nothing to return.

Some of the observers are of the view that the government will have to compensate the plot-holders at last market value which will run well beyond Rs20 billion.

The Sangar Housing Project was developed at Koh-i-Batil to provide an opportunity to the locals of Gwadar and other parts of Balochistan by providing them residential and commercial plots at reasonable prices for ultimately obtaining benefits from the anticipated economic growth of Gwadar city.

Initially, there were more than 3,500 individuals having stake in Sangar Housing Project but many of them have already sold their plots at various prices to the people from all over the country, thus, increasing manifold the strength of the stakeholders.

Most of the plots, after initial allotment, have been sold at a very high price, i.e., Rs3 million for a 1,000 sq yards residential plot and Rs5 million for a 1,000 sq yards commercial plots.

The plots after sale and resale are now owned not merely by the locals of the Gwadar and people of other parts of Balochistan, but also by those from all over Pakistan and abroad.

The stockholders include private individuals, businessmen, investors, government officials, armed forces personnel and politicians.