RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) failed to develop even a single housing scheme during the last 30 years and also could not monitor private housing societies.

Due to the negligence of the civic body established about 30 years ago to make the master plan of the city and monitor development activities, there has been a mushroom growth of low quality housing schemes.

A senior official of the RDA told Dawn that there was a dire need to formulate plans to develop both rural and urban areas and provide basic facilities to the residents.He said it was also the duty of the RDA to ensure that the developers of housing societies provided maximum facilities to the residents.

“As per the law, the housing societies should transfer plots allocated for mosques, schools, community centres and parks in their schemes in the name of the registration authority. But it is not being done in the limits of the RDA.” He said though it was the duty of the developers to build schools, community centres, parks and mosques, the RDA had to monitor the developers to ensure that they fulfilled the requirements.

“The provincial government directed the development authorities to not register those housing societies which do not ensure the basic facilities such as water, sewerage or failed to mortgage 20pc of the land with the registration authority,” he said.

However, more than 100 housing societies in Rawalpindi failed to adopt the rules set by the government due to the negligence of the RDA. “Total 40 housing schemes are registered with the RDA and the civic body failed to take any measures against illegal housing societies where citizens have invested millions of rupees,” he said.

Another official told Dawn that there was no permanent director general of the RDA and the commissioner Rawalpindi division had been working as the acting DG. “The commissioner has to look after the affairs of four districts of the Rawalpindi division and has no time to pay attention on the working of the civic body,” he said.

A senior official of the Punjab Environment Protection Agency (Punjab-EPA) said the agency had asked the RDA to ensure that all the housing societies established sewerage treatment plants in their respective jurisdictions so that they did not discharge the untreated sewage into Soan River and Leh Nulllah.

However, the RDA did not take any action in this regard too despite repeated reminders to them. He said EPA had also issued notices to the housing schemes who claimed to have obtained approval from the RDA.

Former district nazim Raja Tariq Kiani, who also worked as the chairman of the RDA for five years, said the RDA was not fulfilling the duty assigned to it for the development of urban areas.

“The registration of the housing societies and mortgaging of the land allocated for public facilities is theprime duty of the development authority. The RDA has to launch housing schemes to stop the influx of people from the rural areas to the main residential areas.”

He said the government should review the work of the development agency as it failed to make metropolitan planning and traffic engineering. “Commercialisation of all the residential areas is a problem and it came under the jurisdiction of the RDA to stop commercial activities in the city,” he said.

When contacted, RDA spokesman Hafiz Irfan said they had been working on the registration of housing societies in the city areas. He said so far more than 40 housing societies, which adopted all the rules and regulations, had been registered.

The official said the RDA launched action against illegal housing societies which were minting money in the name of housing schemes. He said the RDA issued certificates only to those housing schemes which adopted the rules and regulations.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2016