June 13, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1427

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PESHAWAR, June 12: City District and Municipal Department has sold commercial land in Hayatabad to a private party at much below the market price for construction of multi-storeyed residential blocks, sources said. Officials said that the CDMD management had sold 33 kanals of land near Civic Centre in Hayatabad to the private group at the rate of Rs2.9 million per kanal, while the market rate was more than Rs10 million per kanal.

Nazim of the Hayatabad union council-II Haji Ishraq accused the CDMD of having sold the piece of land at a throwaway price and alleged that it had struck the deal without the involvement of city district government.

He also alleged that the CDMD had kept him in the dark and said that it was refusing to provide him details about the deal. The city district Nazim Haji Ghulam Ali said that he did not know about the auction, adding that the CDMD was bound to inform him about land auction.

Earlier, the CDMD had sold 116 kanals of land to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in phase-V of Hayatabad at Rs435,000 per kanal. The land was originally earmarked for construction of residential colonies for CDMD employees.

Haji Ishraq said that according to Article 126 of the NWFP Local Government Ordinance 2001, it was his responsibility to look after the union council’s property and assets.

At the request of the Nazim, the city district council has constituted a four-member committee, headed by Nazim Riaz Baacha, to probe into the deal. The committee is likely to hold a meeting on Wednesday.

A representative of the Deans Group confirmed the purchase of land in Hayatabad.

Market sources said that the minimum rate of a residential plot in Hayatabad township was in the range of Rs200,000 and Rs300,000 per marla, while the cost of a commercial plot of the same size was about Rs1,000,000.

The Director-General CDMD, Sareer Khan, justified the deal, saying said that all legal and procedural requirements had been fulfilled.

He said that the site was specified for the construction of residential blocks and under the agreement the party would build eight-storied residential blocks. The land, he said, was earmarked for residential blocks in the master plan.

Mr Khan said that in accordance with the agreement, the developer would bring only 60 per cent of the land under construction, while 40 per cent would be left open — in line with the CDMD’s rules.

He, however, rejected the district nazim’s stand that CDMD should have informed him about the deal.

“We are not bound to inform him about every thing,” said the CDMD’s director-general.