ISLAMABAD: Owing to the negligence of the CDA, unauthorised constructions have cropped up in the planned H-13 sector, reducing the chances of its development in accordance with the city’s master plan.
According to the master plan of Islamabad, the sector was reserved for educational and research institutions.
However, the negligence of the civic agency has almost deprived the city of having a separate sector for such institutions. The CDA has so far failed to acquire the land from the owners.
On the other hand, massive unauthorised constructions, including houses, commercial plazas and high-rise buildings, have already cropped up there.
Through newspaper advertisements a couple of years ago, the CDA tried to stop the illegal constructions but to no avail.
A source in the CDA said the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) initiated an inquiry into the matter last year and recently sought the record from the CDA.
Unauthorised houses, plazas and buildings have cropped in the sector reserved for educational institutions
Through a letter, dated September 23, 2016, the FIA directed the CDA to furnish information regarding the sector.
“Director urban planning CDA complained that different illegal apartment projects were being constructed in Sector H-13, Zone I, on the green area/buffer zone,” read the FIA letter, asking the CDA to furnish details whether Section 4 (banning the sale and purchase of land) had been imposed and the ICT administration informed about the violations.
An official of the planning wing said the authority never took any serious action to discourage constructions in the sector or tried to acquire the land.
“Because of our negligence, the owners of the land developed residential and commercial properties without getting any approval. In future, there will be a big mess and whenever we will try to acquire the land, we have to pay huge compensations to the owners,” said a town planner of the CDA who requested not to be named.
“As per CDA rules, there should be 600 feet space for the construction of roads to divide two sectors. However, the residents of H-13 did not reserve 300 feet on their part for the construction of the 13th Avenue between Sector H-12 and H-13,” he said.
Another official alleged that some officers of the authority in the past supported the unauthorised constructions in the sector for vested interests.
He said it was astonishing that the CDA neither acquired the sector nor stopped the illegal constructions there. The building control section of the CDA never interfered in the sector though as per the CDA regulations no building - residential or commercial - could be constructed without getting approval from the building control directorate of the CDA.
“Illegal construction is continuing in Sector H-13 as we could not get our by-laws implemented in the un-acquired sector. But now, a separate building control section has been established to deal with the un-acquired sector,” said the director building control, Shafi Marwat.
“So far we have failed to acquire the land in Sector H-13 and because of the massive constructions there, it would be difficult for us to acquire the land in future,” added member planning, Asad Mehboob Kayani. He, however, said the incumbent management had recently decided to bring all housing societies under the ambit of the building control section. In the second phase, “we will move towards the un-acquired sector,” he added.
Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2016
