HARIPUR: Amid plans to execute the Havelian Dry Port project, the landowners complain that the rates fixed by the government are less than the market value of their land and structures.

The landowners also demand relocation of the site to some other area in the district that has acres of non-agricultural, non-residential and non-commercial land lying unused.

The $65 million dry port is part of the CPEC being built in the vicinity of Baldhair railway station, about five kilometres from the Haripur city, to meet the demand of the containerized future freight traffic between China and Pakistan under the CPEC.

According to feasibility plan finalised in June last year, the Pakistan Railways would have to contribute a major part of the land for the project that would be the largest load and offload facility after Gwadar.

However, according to land acquisition plan, the government has planned to acquire 260 acres of land from the four main villages of Haripur, including Dobandi, Baldhair, Bagra and Kholian.

The rates, according to official documents, fixed on the report of deputy commissioner ranged between Rs25,000 to Rs40,000 per marla, while according to Hizbullah Khan, member of tehsil council and one of the would-be affected villagers, the per marla rate in these areas was from Rs200,000 to Rs300,000 or Rs4 million to Rs5 million per kanal.

He said the people of Haripur had already sacrificed their prime land for Tarbela, Khanpur dams, Ghazi Barotha Power Project, Hattar Industrial Estate and several other projects of national importance.

“People of these four villages have small landholdings, whose value is much higher than the rates worked out by the government,” he said, adding there were scores of residential units that would also be affected due to the project. He urged the government to relocate the project to some other area.

Yasir Khan, another resident of Baldhair village, said the railways had thousands of kanals of its land lying unused, which should be utilised for the dry port project.

He said if the project was not relocated or the affected population was not paid the market rates, the residents would take to the streets.

An official source requesting anonymity told Dawn that the Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services (PRACS) had conducted first feasibility of the area and worked out the rates after consulting revenue record of the area.

The source said chief engineer survey and construction, railways, had written to the Haripur deputy commissioner for appointing focal person from the revenue department for joint survey with PRACS officials

before the imposition of section 4 of the land acquisition act.

The official source said the purpose of the joint survey was to establish the ownership of private and government land. He said after the joint survey that was due within couple of weeks, the exact situation would be visible about the ownership of the land.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2018