ISLAMABAD, July 17: Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider has asked the Capital Development Authority to develop a new sector for low-income groups in the capital.

He also directed the CDA officials to accommodate the affected people of Siri Saral and Pind Sangrial villages, whose land had been acquired to develop Sector D-12, and provide them alternative residence facilities.

He issued these directives while inaugurating the much- awaited construction work of the new sector on Wednesday.

The minister asked the affected villagers to submit their complaints to him in black and white so that necessary action could be taken.

Earlier, the villagers tried to stage a protest against the CDA for non-payment of compensation, but they were stopped by the police who cordoned off the venue of the function.

The minister stressed the need for establishing a committee comprising the plot owners to keep a regular check on development work in the sector.

The minister, however, justified the additional development charges of Rs650 per sq yard which would be received in three instalments from the plot owners, attributing the delay in the development work to the escalation in cost.

He said the plots were allotted in the sector in 1988 and the estimated development cost at that time was Rs788.945 million. He directed the CDA officials concerned to complete this work within three years.

The minister said several new projects, including chairlift at Margalla Hills and rail service in Rose and Jasmine Garden, had been started in the city to provide better entertainment facilities to the citizens.

He said the Food Street in Melody market was completed and would start working by the end of this month.

He lauded the role of the CDA and said it had played a tremendous role in the development and beautification of the capital.

Currently the authority is working on different major projects like I.J. Principal Road (Pirwadhai Road), construction of a modern bus terminal and accommodation for kutcha abadi inhabitants.

Mr Moin said two housing schemes for the low income group in Zone-II and Zone V would be established with the help of the private sector to accommodate all kutcha abadis located in the capital.

It is worth mentioning that the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) has directed the CDA not to receive additional development charges from the plot owners, a source in the authority told Dawn.

He said Ecnec, in its recent meeting, had told the CDA to meet the escalated cost of the project by selling 720 commercial plots in the sector. He said the development charges of the sector had escalated by over 300 per cent during the last 14 years.

“The CDA has already received Rs700 million from the plot owners as development charges and plans to generate an additional amount of Rs300 million,” the source added.

He said a summary had been sent to the authority, urging it not to impose additional development charges on the plot owners. The CDA board would discuss it at its meeting on Thursday, he said.

A senior CDA official also opposed the additional development charges.

Speaking on the occasion, CDA Chairman Mir Laiq Shah said the PC-I of the project was approved by the CDA board in 1988, but due to several reasons the project was delayed and its estimated cost increased to Rs3.7 billion. However, recently Ecnec slashed its cost to Rs3.2 billion.

PPI ADDS: The CDA chief assured the minister that the development work of new sector would be completed within the stipulated time.