THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Islamabad is just as bad as a small town’ (April 6). The Capital Development Authority (CDA) over the last couple of decades has taken decisions that have had adverse demographic, sociological, financial, political and health-related consequences for the residents of the federal capital.

It allowed division of larger plots of land that led to so much duplex and four-unit construction in posh F and G sectors that such houses were left with no ground for children to play, and, as a result, children are back on the roads for their evening playing hour.

The authority started charging more than Rs100,000 per square yard for commercial area. Owing to this, shops have such high rents that they are suitable for expensive imported items to sell, and utility shops for middle-class buying have disappeared. High electricity tariffs and high property taxes make businesses dealing in ordinary consumer items uneconomic.

High property tax on houses owned by pensioners and the elderly is being charged by CDA even though it is no secret that this category of people have no source of regular income. This has forced the latter to sell properties that are bought in 80 per cent cases by those who have something to hide from the law. Property tax needs to be exempted for self-residence, and this should be done via change in legislation as percentage of rent received, not square foot area. Water charges have also been increased, knowing its water quality is substandard, and people rely on bottled water or have their own wells dug up in larger houses. Stopping water to those who cannot pay is constitutionally illegal.

CDA’s decision to pave roads with recycled plastics has made a way for plastic to enter underground water in a big way and on which many residents of Islamabad rely. This has health hazard.

The CDA has done everything to make Islamabad expensive. It has been given a boost in this regard by the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) and the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) in the shape of exaggerated monthly bills.

The CDA gave land to schools in H and other sectors, making parents travel long distances from G and F sectors for picking up their children. It also allowed commercial infrastructure to have basements, creating upper and lower ground floors, meaning thereby that the elderly arthritic citizens have to climb stairs up or down to get to the shops.

The fact is that the capital city was designed and meant for serving and retired civil and military government servants, and no buying or selling of property was allowed. The idea was to prevent business people from socialising with government servants. It was only after the 1971 debacle that the property business was allowed, and there has been no looking back.

In recent years, the decision to create another body, named the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), has led to a double-tier civil service and twice burden on local taxpayers. Logically, only either of two bodies should stay.

M. Shaikh
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2024