ISLAMABAD, July 20: Out of 30 registered housing societies in the federal capital, work is being carried out on only four due to the faulty policies of the organizations concerned and negligence of their staff, sources in different departments told Dawn on Sunday.
Some officials of these organizations, dealing with land and housing societies, were involved in property dealing, giving out of way favour and liberty to the housing societies for their (officials) own interests.
A source in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) said some of the housing societies were facing land acquisition problem causing delay in their completion. He said most of the societies in Islamabad were registered in 1980 and started development work in 1990. But, despite a lapse of over 20 years they still remain incomplete.
He said some of the ICT officials had set up their property dealing offices and sold plots in the societies with the connivance of the housing societies’ owners.
When contacted, the ICT’s registrar housing societies in Islamabad, Malik Sadaqat, told Dawn that land acquisition was one of the main problems confronting the societies. He said all societies were bound to follow the rules of the ICT and Capital Development Authority (CDA).
According to CDA’s policy, the housing societies have to purchase at least 1,600 kanals, otherwise they are not allowed to initiate work, he said.
“If being a government organization, the CDA has so far not resolved the problem of development of D-12, E-11, I-14 and I-16 sectors, then how can private housing societies overcome these problems immediately,” he said.
However, he claimed that the performance of private housing societies in terms of development work was better than the work so far done by the CDA in developing new sectors.
Meanwhile, a source in the CDA said the authority was dealing with six private housing societies in Islamabad which were being developed in sector E-11 (Zone-II area).
The source said some of the senior CDA officials were also involved in property business, therefore, they worked only for their own interests and not for the people.
He said those people, who had purchased plots in these six housing societies in the last decade, had requested the CDA’s high-ups several times for early development of housing societies.
The source said out of six, only two were being developed. He said the proprietors of the housing societies had collected millions of rupees from people for the plots in their respective societies.
According to the CDA laws, a housing society has to pledge 30 per cent of the total number of plots with the authority to ensure completion of development work according to the layout plan approved by the CDA, an official said.