ISLAMABAD: City managers have changed the policy that restored the right of buyers to land of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) who failed to pay for on agreed schedule.

“We expect the new Restoration Policy 2014 would reduce such litigations that the 2009 policy gave rise to,” said an official of the Planning Wing of the civic body.

Members of the CDA Board framed and notified the new policy ahead of the auction of pricy commercial plots set for April 2 and 3.

A member of the hierarchical Board candidly noted, “cancelling the deal benefits the CDA rather than asking defaulting investors repeatedly to clear their dues”.

However, it took the CDA hierarchy five years to realise that the old policy was hurting its interests.

While the 2009 policy, which allowed restoring CDA land to defaulting investors a multiple of times.

Now the new policy has a clause that says that a plot cannot be restored twice for the same reason.

CDA officials claim the new clause would deny real estate tycoons and influence peddlers the opportunity to manipulate the market and harass the CDA with litigations.

Indeed the 2009 policy permitted them to do that even if their bid in a land auction was cancelled, or they failed to deposit the 25 per cent of the plot’s price at the time of the auction. This is mandatory to book the auctioned plot to the highest bidder.

“Plots that are cancelled more than once due to non-payment of premium may be considered for restoration provided that a 10 percent of the prevailing auction price shall be charged over and above the calculated price for each successive restoration,” said the discarded policy.

CDA hoped such compassion would encourage investment in the city, but it encouraged crafty investors to default instead, according to some officials of the civic body.

“This clause was rooted in discretionary powers and led to long delays in development of (residential and commercial) plots. The new policy aims at discouraging restorations,” said one official.

The previous policy allowed restoration even if the defaulter requested for that one year after his plot had been cancelled.

The Restoration Policy 2014 has also changed the membership of CDA’s price determination committee for plots for auction.

It reduces the number of members from the Finance Wing on the committee from three to two, retains one from the Estate Management Wing and adds one from the Planning department.