October 11, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 17, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: The Dubai based-ARY Group has pledged to allay worries of people who had booked apartments in its Dubai scheme and said it would hand over flats to them in a few days.

“We have held a meeting with the UAE-based construction firm Nakheel which is building our flats and asked it to make arrangements for immediate handover of apartments to the applicants,” general manager of ARY’s Residencia project Altaf H. Chishti told Dawn on telephone.

He said the firm had assured ARY that it would hand over flats to purchasers by December 31 and at the same time issue the final allotment letter (agreement).

The official admitted that the project had been delayed and said that it was because the construction firm could not provide utility services in the flats.

Flat buyers Sohail Akhtar, Shahzad Malik, Mian Muhammad Akhtar, M Amjad, Khalil Akhtar Bhatti, Arif Javed Rao, Omar Arif Rao, Usman Ijaz, Salman Ijaz and Muhammad Ashiq Khokhar, who paid the full cost of apartments, said they had not so far received the final allotment letter.

Responding to a question about the complaint of purchasers that the ARY had not reimbursed the remaining 10 per cent amount deposited to get flats, Mr Chishti said: “We are in the process of reimbursement and majority of the depositors have received the amount.”

However, buyers Saleem Baig and Saqib Kamal said they had not received the amount. According to an agreement signed between the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the ARY management, the remaining amount was to be reimbursed by September 30.

Some of the apartment seekers said that ARY had violated the agreement signed with the NAB by not arranging agreement between the builder (Nakheel) and the allotees.

Two types of flats had been offered in the ARY scheme—-single-bed and studio apartments.

The cost of single bed flat and studio apartment is stated to be 300,000 and 200,000 UAE dirhams respectively.

The NAB and the ARY Group had signed the agreement in July this year when the bureau received a complaint that the group had cancelled allotment of flats in its ARY Residencia scheme in Dubai without giving any notice.

The affected people have called upon the NAB to again intervene in the matter and ensure implementation of the agreement.