ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has received 1,600 applications for 1,601 plots in its new housing development Park Enclave III.

The mixed response may have been because of the high prices of the land due to which the authority failed to attract thousands of people to participate in the upcoming balloting, scheduled for Sept 24.

The CDA is offering plots of varying sizes during the balloting, including 264 25x50 five marla plots.

In 2004-5, the CDA introduced and sold out five marla plots for a plot price of Rs200,000 and Rs1 million for development charges. After a 15 year gap, the CDA is again selling small plots, but sources said they are priced beyond what middle class buyerscan afford, as the authority is selling five marla plots for Rs7.7m excluding taxes.

“Since we are going to sell small sized plots after a gap of 15 years, we should have pulled the crowd, but the response was not great because of the high price,” a CDA official said.

The official said, compared to the CDA, when well known housing developers launch developments in Islamabad, they receive a huge response and files for their plots exchange many hands before the projects are even launched.

Rawalpindi resident Mohsin Hussain said that the small sized plots being sold by the CDA are priced “beyond my capacity”, which was why he decided not to participate in the balloting.

A press releaseissued on Sunday claimed that the CDA received an “overwhelming response to Park Enclave-III project.”

“For a total of 1061 plots, 1600 applications have been received by the deadline,” it said.

CDA spokesperson Mazhar Hussain said the authority has sold 1,900 forms and received 1,600 applications by the time the deadline closed.

“We expect more responses on Monday, when banks will be opened, as we believe many people on Friday [the last day to submit an application], may have submitted their applications through banks,” he said, describing the response to the development as “overwhelming”.

The press release said that the CDA has already fenced around the proposed site for the development, and planning is underway.

It said that development activity is expected to start within this calendar year, adding that the CDA will likely generate Rs14 billion with the response for residential plots. The commercial auction for Park Enclave-III will follow during the developmental phase.

Some officials said that the CDA’s decision to sell the plots at such a high price would lead to a rise in the prices of plots in Islamabad overall, including in other housing developments. They said the authority will likely sell all the plots in its development on Sept 24, but prices will rise afterwards in the city.

The CDA launched Park Enclave I in 2011 and Park Enclave II in 2016. Both schemes were exclusively for the wealthy, with one kanal plots sold for Rs20.5m in Park Enclave II.

In Park Enclave III, in addition to one kanal and seven marla plots, the CDA also earmarked 264 five marla plots to cater to middle class buyers.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan has been focusing on and talking about facilitating the lower middle class, but here in Islamabad, the CDA, it seems is only working for the rich. I was planning to purchase a small plot for my family, but I cannot afford a five marla plot for almost Rs8m,” said Ali Khan, a resident of Bhara Kahu.

He added that the CDA is not a properly dealing office but a government entity, and should not be setting a trend for high prices.

When asked about the pricing of these plots, Mr Hussain said the prices were reasonable and based on calculations. He said the authority does not have a choice but to fix market based rates, as it sold one kanal plots for Rs20.5m in 2016 and in view of the price trends fixed the price of five marla plots at Rs7.6m to avoid audit objections.

He added that the CDA is planning to launch a low cost housing development for the lower middle class.

Some officials said that the CDA and the federal government have a cordial working relationship, and if the CDA was wary of audit objections when comparing plot prices to that of a one kanal plot in Park Enclave II, it should have taken up a summary with the government to obtain a directive to sell small sized plots at reasonable prices.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2020