ISLAMABAD, April 28: Housing Minister Syed Safwanullah has said that the land acquired for developing Islamabad New City (INC) housing scheme had not been transferred in the name of National Housing Authority (NHA), which has made it difficult for the ministry to sell it and reimburse the amount to innocent plot seekers in the abortive housing project.

He told a group of journalists in his office that he had taken an initiative to reimburse the amount mostly deposited by retired government servants, but now it came to his knowledge that the land acquired for the scheme was scattered and fell in Shamilat (the land belonging to all people of the area).

The minister said if the ministry failed to sell the land, the reimbursement would become impossible.

However, the minister said he was extremely ashamed of what his ministry’s people had done in the INC housing scam.

He said the plan of the scam was made so smartly that now even after two years efforts, the matters had not been streamlined.

“Although we have been able to trace that some of the scattered land was purchased for the scheme in the proposed area but without any title,” he said.

Mr Safwaullah said first the land purchased for the scheme had to be transferred in the name of ministry and then it would be sold to reimburse the amount.

The amount of Rs300 million has to be reimbursed and was deposited by some 3,000 people mostly retired government employees, a source in the ministry said.

The project had two phases one was being dealt by the NHA and the second one by Capital Development Authority (CDA).

The money deposited with the CDA has been reimbursed to the applicants. However, the NHA has no answer that where the amount has been utilised.

The housing minister had already confirmed that the money deposited with the NHA had been drained out abroad by those who launched the scheme. “It is very difficult to get this money back, but what we can do is the land purchased for the scheme can be sold to return the people’s money,” he added.

The INC project was launched in 1996 and since that time people could not get their money from the NHA. Total number of people applied in both phases of the project is stated to be over 5,000.

The money deposited in the second phase was Rs162 million and a sum of Rs300 million was deposited with the NHA in the first phase.