KARACHI, Dec 11: The Sindh Assembly was on Thursday informed that the 70-acre land, adjacent to the National Stadium, Karachi, was the property of the provincial government.

Possession of the land was transferred to the BCCP in 1991, but it is, at present, under the physical control of the defence authorities and a housing project is coming up at the site.

The information was given to the House by Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar, in his written reply to a question by Abdullah Murad of the PPP.

Mr Murad had asked whether it was a fact that the revenue land in question had previously being used as transport yard of Pakistan Steel and had now been converted into housing scheme. He had also sought details of the scheme.

The CM said that the land situated in NC No.177, Deh Okewari, was allowed to be used by the Pakistan Steel for parking of its vehicles at the rate of Rs1,000 per acres per month. The permission was granted by the DC, Karachi East, on January 17, 1979.

There was a dispute over the ownership of the property as the BCCP had laid a claim on a piece of land measuring 104-05 acres, including the 17-acres portion of the land in question.

It was decided during a meeting chaired by the than chief secretary in 1991 that possession of the land be transferred to the BCCP from the Pakistan Steel.

The CM said that the Pakistan Cricket Board (successor of the BCCP) was being requested separately to resolve the issue of the land’s possession and also provide details regarding the proposed housing scheme, its sponsors and a list of allottees, if any.

In reply to a question by MPA Asar Das D. Hemnani, Minister Syed Shoaib Bokhari said that owing to the involvement of heavy investment, construction of new roads had not been included in the scheme/proposals allowed to be financed through MPAs’ funds.

In response to another question by the same member, who wanted to know whether funds for the MPAs’ development schemes for the year 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 had not yet been released, the minister informed the House that on the recommendations of Planning and Development Department for the release of Rs605-578 million, the Finance Department had released Rs523.897 million on December 3.

The release orders for the balance amount of Rs81.681 million are under process and would be issued by the Finance Department during the current month. For the year 2003-04, the Planning and Development Department has issued a letter on October 25 and a reminder on December 1 to the secretary of the assembly for inviting proposals thereof from MPAs. Members of the House, DCOs and secretaries of the provincial government have individually been informed of the matter.

As soon as the proposals are received and processed by district/city government and the provincial Nation Building Departments, the same would be sent to the FD for the release of funds.

The House was also informed that three new sewerage schemes costing Rs1.2041 million were undertaken in Thatta district from the share of Rs28.794 million provided to the district out of the block allocation of Rs455 million kept for new scheme in the year 2001-2002.