ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Monday decided to seek a loan from the federal government for sector development as the civic agency has initiated a large number of development projects.

Sources said the CDA’s financial condition was not strong enough compared to its ongoing and planned development projects.

Therefore, the civic agency has been facing funding issues for the development of sectors.

The CDA Board, which met here on Monday with CDA Chairman Sohail Ashraf in the chair, discussed the loan issue. The board approved a summary titled “Provision of federal government loan bridge/funding facility amounting to Rs20 billion in favour of CDA for sector development.”

Civic agency faces funding constraints amid multiple ongoing and planned development projects

The board also took up another summary titled “Provision of government ceiling of Rs20 billion in favour of CDA to raise funds for sector development.”

Sources said the CDA Board approved both summaries and decided to approach the federal government for the loan.

“Today, we decided to seek a federal government loan for sector development,” a board member told Dawn.

During the last two years, the CDA completed a number of projects, mainly road-related schemes, worth billions of rupees.

Meanwhile, two major projects worth billions are currently underway, including the Expressway Service Road, with an estimated cost of Rs5 billion, and the Margalla Road Extension Project, with an estimated cost of Rs3.8 billion.

A mega project for the construction of the New Convention Centre has an estimated cost of Rs37 billion, while the first phase of the cricket stadium project, involving civil works and road networks, requires an estimated Rs8.9 billion.

Recently, the CDA opened financial bids for these two projects and received Rs37 billion as the lowest bid for the Convention Centre project and Rs8.9 billion for the stadium project. After opening the two financial bids, the CDA referred them to consultants for their assessment of the bid rates.

The two projects are expected to start soon.

Meanwhile, two more road-related projects, including the Kashmir Chowk underpass and the Margalla Road/9th Avenue underpass, are also planned.

The CDA last week opened bids for the Kashmir Chowk project, while the PC-I of the proposed Margalla Road underpass is being finalised.

Similarly, a mega project, Safari Park, is also planned for the near future. Sources in the CDA said timely completion of all these development projects required massive funding.

On the other hand, the CDA, being an autonomous body, arranges funds from its own sources, mostly relying on the auction of commercial plots. However, the CDA’s current financial condition is not sufficient to support such a large scale of development projects.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2026