THE government has failed to protect the buyers’ rights who have invested their lifetime savings in one of the mega projects named the One Constitution Avenue (OCA) in Islamabad.

In this project, located in the heart of the federal capital, buyers, including hardworking professionals, widowers, retirees and tax-paying Pakistani citizens or overseas Pakistanis invested approximately Rs5.4bn, but their investment has gone in vain when this multi-storey building was considered illegal.

Was it wrong for these people to invest in this project? Who is going to compensate these buyers for their financial losses if their rightful properties are taken away from them? Will overseas Pakistanis ever invest a single penny of their hard-earned money in any future projects in Pakistan? These and many such questions remain unanswered almost 10 months after the Capital Development Authority cancelled the lease of the One Constitution Avenue project.

N. H. Qureshi
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2017