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ISLAMABAD, Feb 10: The National Police Foundation (NPF) is striving to get 70 acres in Sector F-12/3 to extend its housing society being established in Sector E-11, a source in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) told Dawn.
The source said the CDA had allocated land in Sector F-12/3 for construction of low-cost residential units for its employees. He said the CDA bureaucracy was divided on the issue, as some senior officials, including the chairman, were of the view that the land should be utilised for construction of flats for the employees, while others wanted that the land be given to the foundation.
The NPF housing scheme is stated to be the costliest ever private housing scheme in Islamabad, as the cost of a 500 sq yard plot in the scheme is stated to be over Rs15 million.
SURVEY: The source said the CDA had so far failed to come up with a plan to properly develop E-11 causing a mushroom growth of ill-planned high-rise buildings in the area.
The CDA chairman, he said, had directed the department concerned about nine months back to prepare a comprehensive study on the sector falling in the Golra Estate. According to the law, the CDA cannot acquire land in Golra for any purpose but it can ensure a planned construction in the area.
The source said some CDA officials had opposed the authority's plan for constructing multi-storey residential buildings in the northern strip of E-11 due to lack of civic services. However, NOCs were being issued to the owners of private buildings being constructed in the area.
The source feared that the entire sector would turn into a slum, if ill-planned construction was not stopped there. He said people had purchased the entire land in E-11 and now they had started constructing high-rise residential buildings.
The private housing projects are being executed by some influential people and the authority is facing hindrance in taking any action against them. He said Khudadad Heights was the first building of this kind being constructed in the area and some senior officials of the authority were supporting the builders.
The source said the owners had started advance booking of flats. The total cost of each flat ranges between Rs4 million to Rs7 million and people have started giving down payments.
Meanwhile, the CDA has issued a circular warning the general public against investing money in any private housing scheme in E-11.
The authority is of the view that conversion of land in Islamabad without permission of the CDA was prohibited under the Pakistan Capital Regulations-1960 and the ICT Zoning Regulations- 1992 and thus all private schemes, including Khudadad Heights, in E-11 were illegal.
