ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to begin fencing off its land in the Kuri Model Village area to prevent encroachments.

The project will likely begin today (Wednesday), Member Estate Khushal Khan told Dawn.

The authority had recently retrieved land through drives in some areas, and is now looking to fence the land. This project could provide hundreds of thousands of housing units and is equal to around four residential sectors in the capital. However, the CDA and landowners are involved in disputes over built-up property (BuP) claims on this land.

Sources said the initial survey found around 1,100 occupants of the land, but when the CDA began the process to take possession of the acquired land in 2011 the number had risen to 7,096. The Federal Investigation Agency in 2013 cleared 3,422 landowners.

In land where there are no disputed over BuP claims, the land remains abandoned and this is where the authority will install the fencing. A CDA official said that land the authority has retrieved should be brought into utilisation to prevent future encroachment.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018