ISLAMABAD: Two days after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) endorsed the cancellation of the lease of a plot for the construction of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the city managers turned down for the time being a request from the Centaurus Mall management to make changes to its original design.

The CDA leased out the 32,040 square yards to M/S Pak Gulf for Rs6 billion for the construction of a hotel, shopping area and residential apartments.

The firm completed the shopping mall and the residential apartments but without the five-star hotel.

A source in the CDA told Dawn that as per its original approved design the Centaurs Mall was supposed to construct four towers - A, B, C and D. The fourth (D) was to be the iconic hotel tower having 42 storeys. Tower A and B were meant for apartments while Tower C was for offices.

Management of the mall wants to use one of the existing towers for a five-star hotel before constructing a separate building

The source said the owner of the mega shopping mall was not interested in constructing Tower D and wanted to get permission to convert Tower C into the hotel tower, deviating from the original approved design.

For reviewing their request, the CDA held a meeting of its design vetting committee (DVC) on Monday. The committee discussed the design plans of Centaurs Shopping Mall’s Tower C.

The meeting was chaired by Member Planning and Design Asad Mehboob Kayani and attended by CDA officers concerned, the owner of the shopping mall and the president the Islamabad Developer Association, Chaudhry Naseer.

The source said a key bureaucrat from the federal bureaucracy, who had nothing to do with the CDA affairs, was pursuing the case directing the CDA again and again to “please decide the important case on merit and priority.” However, the source said, during the meeting the CDA officers pleaded that how the office tower could be converted into a hotel tower.

They contended that the shopping mall had failed to get the completion (occupancy) certificate and also made several other violations in the project.

The mall administration was directed to come up with suggestions on how the changes could be made in the original design.

“Yes today we reviewed the request of Centaurus Mall. They were asking for amendments to their design to declare Tower C as a hotel tower,” Member Planning Asad Mehboob Kayani told Dawn.

Asked whether the CDA had rejected the request or deferred it, he said: “We asked them to bring the original design along with the proposed changes. We will discuss the issue again. You can’t say it a rejection or acceptance.” He said the CDA would follow rules and regulations.

In January this year, the CDA pointed out major violations in the approved building plan of the Centaurus Mall.

According to a CDA document, the management of Centaurus made over a dozen major changes such as construction of 33 storeys against the approved 29 storeys. The management of the mall was allowed to construct only 160 apartments but it built 185. The approved height of the building was 390 feet but at present it is 422 feet tall.

As per the document, the management of the commercial centre was operating a shopping centre on the mezzanine basement which was reserved for parking. In the verandah of the mall, small kiosks have been established against the approved plan.

The commercial use of the mezzanine basement for Al-Fatah Shopping Mall is unauthorised for which the CDA deputy commissioner has already imposed a fine on the management. “Monal Downtown has been established in the plant room area which is not allowed, and required to be removed.”

An audit report of 2015-16 also stated that the Centaurus Mall had encroached on over 40 kanals worth Rs10 billion and was being run without obtaining a completion certificate from the CDA. The encroached land belonging to the CDA is being used as a parking lot.

When contacted, Sardar Yasir, a brother of the owner, told Dawn that Centaurus Mall had been following rules and regulations but the CDA did not waste any opportunity to discourage the mall administration.

“As per CDA documents, there is no specific tower for the construction of a hotel, rather all towers were for mix use. We can use any of the towers for the hotel,” he said, adding there was an immediate need for a five-star hotel.

“Today, the CDA deferred our request and the issue will again be taken up at the next meeting,” he said. He said as per the signed documents the CDA was supposed to provide the mall a grid station, water, gas and other allied facilities but so far the civic agency has failed to honour its commitments.

“On the other hand, they are continuously reminding us about the construction of the hotel tower. This is double standards,” he said.

Asked about the encroachment on CDA land and using the building without having a completion certificate, he said: “We are not encroachers but are using the CDA plot for parking only. As for as the completion certificate is concerned, our project is not fully completed, so the CDA should issue us a partial completion certificate.

He said they were not backtracking from the fourth tower and would construct it later.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2017