LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said on Friday it had helped acquire thousands of acres of land for the LDA City project.

“The LDA City was envisaged as the biggest venture of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) in the housing sector with collaboration of the private sector but the said project faced unusual delay as far as eight years and troubles in acquiring of land from the private developer partners,” the NAB said in a statement here.

It said in 2013 the LDA had decided to procure 45,000 kanal land for LDA City Project through five private development partners (land providers) within one year for which the authority announced 30 per cent of land in the shape of developed plots, however, the development partners failed to provide requisite land till 2018 and also sold out the 10,000 entitled plot files to general public.

“Keeping in view the multiple stakes, NAB Lahore initiated a direct inquiry in 2018 when a severe deadlock persisted between the stakeholders. The bureau arrested two private developers who confessed their guilt and offered to present the remaining land to LDA, afterwards, they were released on conditional bail from honorable Court on request of NAB Lahore,” it said.

The NAB said in 2019, the Supreme Court constituted a committee for early redress of the matter which was headed by provincial minister for housing Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed along with NAB and LDA as part of the committee. “NAB Lahore’s recommendations along with enforcement helped in provision of 25,500 Kanal land (approx) to LDA from which 11,300 plots were handed over to general public through balloting,” it said and added the bureau had facilitated more than 60,000 affectees directly and indirectly in the housing sector since 2017.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2021