ISLAMABAD, March 4: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Government Assurances on Saturday expressed concern over a long delay in reimbursement of money to people affected by the Islamabad New City scam.

The committee, headed by Haji Khuda Bux Nizamani, was discussing assurances given by the ministers regarding the aborted housing scheme and setting up of the office of Divisional Engineer (Phones), District Bunair.

It was informed that the Islamabad New City Housing Society was launched on July 7, 1996, under a tripartite venture agreement between the

Capital Development Authority (CDA), MG Hertz and Asia Challenge Investment, Singapore.

Around 3,000 people, mostly retired government employees, had deposited the first instalment of their plots in the scheme that had to be completed in two phases with one being dealt by the CDA and the other by the National Housing Authority of the Ministry of Housing and Works.

As the project did not take off, allottees filed a suit in a civil court and the judge on October 31, 2001, authorised the Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB), which held the instalments on behalf of the CDA, to refund the amount to the applicants.

Subsequently, MCB refunded a sum of Rs131.034 million by April 2, 2004, and the remaining applicants were asked to collect their money through both public notices and individual letters.

Meanwhile, the housing ministry has reportedly sought permission from the court to sell the land already purchased for the scheme to reimburse the hard-earned money depositors.

The ministry has got registered 1,400 kanals of the scheme near Soan in its name and approval of the court is being sought to sell it, an official source said.

He said the ministry had moved a company court in Lahore, pleading that a liquidator be appointed to settle the issue. “I think the process of reimbursement will start in a month or so,” he added.

The project of Islamabad New City flopped when its developers fled abroad allegedly after misappropriating the money deposited by plot seekers.

The housing and works ministry has to reimburse a sum of Rs320 million which were deposited by the affected people over a decade ago.

“With a boom in real estate, I think the ministry will get more than the required amount by auctioning the land,” the source said.