ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been extending its support to Capital Development Authority (CDA) to get 15,000 amenity plots transferred from housing societies operating in Islamabad.

Amenity plots are meant for park, schools, mosques, roads, etc., and as per CDA’s regulations, this land was supposed to be transferred in the name of CDA by housing societies.

However, in many cases, sources said housing societies after carving out plots on amenities land, sold them out in market. Sources said that 34 housing societies have yet to transfer 15,000 kanal in favour of CDA.

Sources said that recently, when matter came into notice of Director General NAB Rawalpindi Waqar Ahmed Chohan he directed the CDA to get amenities land transferred in its name and also offered support.

Sources in NAB said that several meetings had been held on this subject in NAB office and the CDA was directed to take steps in this regard.

Recently, CDA on the recommendation of the NAB had also decided to introduce new regulations to manage housing societies and apartment projects. Once approved, only plots and apartments included in the layout plan of a scheme will be allowed for sale.

Under the proposed regulations, every scheme and operator of apartment projects will be required to open Dubai-model escrow accounts. The revenue collected for a specific scheme will be spent on this scheme and will not be allowed to be spent on expansion or any other project.

The escrow accounts will be jointly operated by the owner of the scheme and the CDA, and the funds will be used only for the development of the scheme area for which they were collected.

Director General NAB Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Waqar Ahmed Chohan, who attended a CDA ceremony at Jinnah Convention Centre in last month for distribution of possession letters for plots in Sector I-15, said, “NAB, in collaboration with CDA, is introducing a new system to promote transparency in the housing sector.”

He had said under the new system, allotment letters will be issued with barcodes to prevent counterfeit documents. Furthermore, it has been recommended to make it mandatory for housing societies to open escrow accounts, he added.

Sources said that CDA is in process of preparing new Standards Operating Procedure (SOP) for allotment of plots in housing societies. They said that printing Corporation will be requested for printing the allotment letters as per approved Layout Plan of the scheme approved by CDA.

They said that a number of security features can be added to ensure the safety of the original allotment letter and a Bar Code will be printed on allotment letter which will bear all relevant data about the plot.

The data will remain in the custody of the officer concerned of Estate Management Wing of CDA and the relevant officer of the housing society concerned.

The proposed SOP stated that allotment letter will bear plot size, plot number, street number, number of adjacent plots, name of scheme, reference of approved layout plan of the scheme.

The proposed SOP stated that name of allottee will be filled by the administration of the society concerned to whom that plot is allotted. Similar SOP for commercial and other saleable plots will be adopted.

The proposed SOP stated that in case of commercial building or apartment building where there are multiple units approved in the building plan, after approval of building plan, the unit number will be marked and printed on the allotment letters accordingly. It said that each letter will be both sign of Dy. Director (Estate), CDA and Society Representatives.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2025