ISLAMABAD, May 29: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday warned the general public against making investments in 18 private housing schemes which have been declared ‘fake’ by the Gwadar Development Authority.

The bureau advised people that before buying plots in any housing scheme in any part of the country they should find out if its sponsors had obtained a no objection certificate from the authorities concerned.

In a press release, the NAB asked people to carefully examine the file of a plot, exact plot number, street number, sector, phase number, development charges and the scheme’s completion schedule.

According to the NAB, the schemes which have been declared bogus by the GDA are the Shanghai Industrial Estate, Silver Rock, Khaleej City, Royal Park Tower, Alpine Gwadar, Marina View, Soldier City, Gwadar Port Yard, Golden Valley, Qartaba Creek Valley, Green Land Scheme, Gwadar Trade Centre, Asia Acre, Qartaba Creek Acre, Alpine Village, Green Green Land Scheme, International Port City and West Avenue.

The warning has been issued by the NAB’s Awareness and Prevention Division in the wake of an unprecedented boom in the real estate business and mushroom growth of fake housing schemes in the new port city.

The Gwadar Development Authority had recently announced that the 18 housing schemes had been operating “illegally” without obtaining an NOC. It may be mentioned that the sponsors of these schemes had launched an advertisement campaign in the media with the sole purpose of fleecing people.

However, a source told Dawn that the warning was a belated step because most of the schemes had been launched two to three years ago.