KARACHI, March 8: The city government has started to offer a one-time 40 per cent rebate to people seeking to take out new leases on properties in old city areas.

A high-ranking official of the city government told Dawn on Monday that the city district council passed a resolution in January in which it offered the rebate to the owners and occupants of properties whose 99-year lease had expired.

He added that the properties on which the rebate was available were situated in Old Clifton, Bath Island, Frere Town, Civil Line, Saddar Bazaar, Preedy Quarters, Jamshed Quarters, Soldier Bazaar, Harchandrai Quarters, Ramaswami Quarters, Tahalram Quarters, Napier Quarters, Market Quarters, Bunder Quarters, Ghulam Hussain Quarters, Old Town, Wadhumal Odharam Quarters, Ranchhore Line Quarters, Sarai Quarters, Arambagh Quarters, Artillery Maidan Quarters, Railway and Queens Quarters, etc.

The district officer of the city government's land department, Syed Ather Hussain, said there were more than 300 properties in old city areas whose 99-year lease had expired a long time ago.

An official of the Sindh government told Dawn that the city government could earn at least Rs3.5 billion by issuing new leases on hundreds of buildings in old city areas. "All the lease records of old city areas have been computerized.

In fact, in many cases notices were issued to the residents of old city areas to get their leases renewed. But no follow-up action was taken by the city government for a long time," he explained. But Mr Hussain said the cause of delay was the lack of clear-cut legislation on the issue. He recalled that the defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had passed a resolution (No 897) on June 7, 1999 in which it had fixed a schedule of payment for those properties whose 99-year lease had expired.

"But those rates were unacceptable to a large number of people, some of whom went to court against us. This brought payment to the city government under this head to a halt.

Besides, the city government also feared that it might not win all the court cases. The owners and occupants of properties in old city areas should avail themselves of the one-time rebate being offered by the city government," he suggested.

Another official of the city government's land department said the owners of properties in old city areas could get their leases renewed if they produced documents establishing without doubt that they possessed the properties.

"The expiry of leases started around 1960. Karachi was conquered by the British in 1843. Allotment of land began after some time. In most cases, these pieces of land were allotted for a period of 99 years," he explained.