ISLAMABAD: Despite support from the business community, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has been slow in taking action against businesses set up in residential buildings in the city.

The authority has estimated that there are around 2,200 businesses being operated in residential areas.

However, action has only been taken against 40 such commercial ventures within the last two days that too only in Sector F-7.

“We had scheduled to take action against the violators on Tuesday but an anti-encroachment drive had to take place at that time,” said CDA Director Enforcement Mohammad Iqbal, expressing the confidence that the operation against the houses hosting business activities would resume soon.

Nearly 2,200 businesses in residential units, the authority has only taken action against 40 violators in one sector

However, the civic body seems to have no certain plan about taking a large scale action against these businesses.

The CDA management maintained that demolishing extensions and confiscating signboards would have a strong impact on the business operators, who would then start moving their activities to commercial areas.

“The final step will be to seal the premises or cancelling the lease but this will take time,” said CDA spokesman Asim Khichi.

He said the civic body was already working on various cases of this kind and legal action was being taken. According to the legal procedure, the estate department has to forward two notices to the businesses with a gap of 15 days in between, he said.

However, most of these businesses obtain a stay order from courts when a notice is served.

Now, since the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has started to vacate the stay orders granted to these businesses, the law department, estate management and the building control section of the planning wing are jointly preparing a list of all such cases that do not have valid stay orders.

“Almost two dozen cases have already been forwarded to the office of CDA deputy commissioner but the law demands that there have to be two notices and the DC has the authority to give a final notice around two months before finally issuing the order to cancel the lease,” Mr Khichi said.

Since there is only one CDA DC, the hearing of such cases take a long time and it is generally expected that the owners of the lease will contest their case by seeking time or, sometimes, even challenging the decision declaring the operation of businesses in residential areas illegal.

A senior CDA official said the authority faced a lot of pressure in such cases, especially when people threatened to take the case to the political leadership of the country.

The official acknowledged that a long-term solution to the problem lied in setting examples by cancelling the leases. But he added that the current operation would at least help in checking new ventures from initiating businesses in residential areas.

Meanwhile, the business community has welcomed the decision to remove commercial activities from residential areas.

The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry acting president, Khalid Chaudhry, said due to the mushroom growth of business activities in residential areas 40 per cent of the commercial centres were lying vacant as there was a huge difference in utility tariffs between the commercial and residential areas.

“When all the businesses will operate in commercial areas, only then will the investors take interest in commercial plots, which will also help the CDA earn more money,” Mr Chaudhry added.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2014