ISLAMABAD: The construction of another highrise building in the capital is in jeopardy, after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) validated the cancellation of a plot leased to a private builder planning to construct an 18-storey multipurpose tower at the site of the Margalla Towers.

The IHC has referred a controversy surrounding the cancellation of the aforementioned plot to its new owner to the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which subsequently directed the builder to stop construction remove encroachments from the area.

On March 17, 2016, the CDA had cancelled the lease to Mohammad Masud Abbasi, the owner of the private firm M/S APCO, due to non-payment.

CDA board told to decide appeal filed by company planning to build multipurpose highrise at the site

Mr Abbasi, who comes to a well-connected political family, is the CEO of M/S APCO. On June 8, 2012, the company made a bid of Rs1.7 billion for the Margalla Towers plot and its partially collapsed structure.

The builder had planned to construct an 18-storey multipurpose tower named Park One, which would house malls, commercial and residential units and two cinemas. According to the building’s proposed layout, the tower would be spread across 11,750 square yards.

In 1992, the CDA had allocated this land to M/S CCC for the construction of luxury apartments. The residential towers, called the Margalla Towers, collapsed in the October 2005 earthquake, killing 74 residents and leaving many more homeless.

In 2007, the Supreme Court ordered the CDA to pay Rs1.8bn in compensation to the 143 apartment owners in the towers, but allowed the authority to dispose of the plot after clearing the affected parties.

The CDA auctioned the plot and awarded M/S APCO the lease against Rs1.7bn.

In 2013, the authority handed over possession of the plot to the builder after it had received 40pc of the total sum, a situation similar to the Grand Hyatt deal with M/S BNP. M/S BNP constructed serviced apartments that were sold to over 240 people for over Rs12bn, but did not clear its Rs4.8bn payment to the CDA. The CDA won a legal battle in this matter in March this year, after the IHC approved the cancellation of M/S BNP’s lease.

But unlike M/S BNP, which did not clear its outstanding payment to the CDA due to successive rescheduling permitted by the authority, M/S APCO stopped its payments due to litigation with the builder of Margalla Towers.

The company’s counsel Babar Sattar argued before the IHC that the title of land was unclear and subject to the outcome of a pending civil suit due to litigation with Ramzan Khokar, the previous owner of the plot.

He said his client could not clear the outstanding payment, which is just over Rs1bn, until the title of land is clear.

CDA’s counsel Kashif Ali Malik argued that the plot was allotted to Mr Abbasi in 2012. Mr Khokar had filed a civil suit the same year and obtained a stay order, which an IHC single bench set aside in addition to clarifying that the CDA was the “exclusive” owner of the land and could lawfully auction it off to any third party.

IHC Justice Aamer Farooq disposed of the case after M/S APCO said they were ready to clear the outstanding payment to the CDA and have filed an appeal before the CDA board. Justice Farooq asked the CDA board to make a decision on the appeal.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2017