ISLAMABAD, Aug 2 Yet another farm housing scam is in the offing in the federal capital as the city managers are planning to allow construction in the green strip, commonly called buffer zone, in H-9 Sector where orchard farms have been allotted to the 'elite' and the 'powerful', Dawn learnt on Sunday.

The size of the farms in H-9 is far bigger than those located on Murree Road and Chak Shahzad where former President Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf and other bigwigs own palatial houses.

If the farms in H-9 Sector are bifurcated, the permissible covered area, which is 12,500 sq yards, will be multiplied with the number of farms, having a size of 2.5 acre or 20 kanals each, to be carved out.

Sources in the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which deals with these farms, said a proposal had been prepared in the planning wing of the authority to bifurcate the farms into smaller sizes of 2.5 acres each instead of their present size that ranged from 16 to 35 acres.

If the proposal is approved another concrete jungle will come up in the heart of the city. This would mar the master plan of Islamabad which does not permit such farms in H-9.

Sources said the proposal had been given a go ahead by the CDA's member planning, Tanveer Bokhari, however some officials were of the view that the CDA board, comprising six members and chairman, should give approval to it.

According to the source the area had some 14 orchard plots, and if presently the total permissible covered area of one plot is 12,500 sq feet it would be more than 125,000 sq feet after the bifurcation.

The benefit of the proposed bifurcation will be enjoyed by the owners of these farms who will be able to sell their bifurcated plots not at the cost of Rs100 million which is demanded for the farms on Murree Road and Chak Shahzad Scheme but more than that as the price of land in H-9 is higher because the sector is located almost in the centre of the city.

When contacted, the CDA's member planning, Tanveer Bokhari, said the proposal had been floated on the demand of the farm owners but so far no decision had been taken in this regard.

He too expressed concerns over the mass scale construction in the buffer zone if the proposal was accepted.

“The main hitch in it is that it would allow 12,500 sq feet covered area on each farm of 2.5 acre instead of the same permissible covered area in a 35-acre farm,” he said.

At present plant nurseries have been set up on these farms which, although do not comply with the concept of orchard scheme (to get fruits and vegetables for catering the city's need), are still acceptable because they are not affecting the green image of the area.