November 26, 2007	Monday	Ziqa’ad 15, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has served notice on a private housing society for its alleged irregularities in developing a housing scheme in Sector E-16 (Zone-II) and gave it 15-day warning to straighten its affairs.

“We have served notice on the management of Roshan Pakistan Corporation (RPC) Housing Scheme after we found some irregularities in it,” Capital Development Authority (CDA) Housing Societies Director Sarwar Sindhu said on Sunday.

He said the RPC had been asked in the notice to re-demarcate its land so that the authority could know as to how much land the housing scheme had and what part of it had been mortgage with the CDA.

The official said the management of the scheme had been asked to submit its development schedule and deposit bank guarantee (equal to the cost of development of the scheme) with the CDA. “If the RPC does not comply with the orders and fails to meet the deadline of 15 days, its NOC would be cancelled,” he said. According to sources, after one year of the issuance of the No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to the private housing scheme, the city managers realised that it was not eligible to be awarded official approval.

However, the belated action of the CDA against the housing scheme provided full opportunity to its management to collect millions of rupees from hundreds of plot seekers who were now worried about their money.

Mr Sindhu said the management of RPC housing scheme in Sector E-16 (Zone-II) had failed to fulfil its commitment given to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Capital Development Authority that it would complete at least 10 per cent of the development work by October 30, 2007.

He said the scheme was under investigation by NAB which favoured its management and gave it an opportunity to complete at least 10 per cent development work by the end of last month.

During that time the management of RPC launched a massive media campaign and advertised both on print and electronic media to attract maximum number of plot seekers not only from within the country but also from abroad (overseas Pakistanis).

The sources said the CDA and NAB were well aware of the fact that the scheme’s management was not in a position to sell plots but even then the two authorities did not stop the RPC from giving out attractive ads.

On the other hand, Mr Sindhu said according to the NOC issued to the housing scheme in 2006, it should have 1,620 kanals, but investigations revealed that it had compact piece of only 900 kanals.

“The management of the housing scheme has assured that it would purchase more land to make the available land into a single unit,” Mr Sindhu said.

According to the rules of the CDA, minimum requirement of land for launching a private housing scheme in Zone-II is 800 kanals of which 30 per cent land is mortgaged with the CDA and the land for public use like roads, streets, parks, schools and mosques is transferred in the name of the CDA.

As per its NOC requirement the RPC had mortgaged 30 per cent land (486 kanals) of 1,620 kanals, and the land for pubic use was also transferred in the authority’s name in papers.

The CDA director said the site visit of the housing scheme revealed that no development had been carried out there despite the fact that its management had assured NAB and the CDA that it would complete 10 per cent work before October 30, 2007.