RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Saturday decided to ask the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) to vacate its land in various parts of the city.

A senior official told Dawn that RDA’s land at Committee Chowk near Kehkeshan Cinema, in front of Novelty Cinema, Commercial Market and shops on Murree Road were under the use of the RMC.

He said the RDA planned to construct shopping plazas on the land measuring over 40 kanals. He said the chief executive officer of the RMC had been approached to hold a meeting with RDA Chairman Arif Abbasi on Monday.

There is a dire need to get possession of the land for future planning. He said the RDA would also approach the Rawalpindi Bar Association to vacate its land at Civil Lines.

When contacted, RDA Chairman Arif Abbasi confirmed that 40 kanals had been in the possession of the RMC. He said he had directed the land branch to arrange a meeting with the administrative head of the RMC so that the RDA could get back its land.

Mr Abbasi said RDA’s land worth billions of rupees had been occupied in 17 localities of the city. “After getting back the land, we will involve private investors to generate revenues,” he added.

But a senior RMC official requesting not to be named said no land owned by RDA was in the possession of the RMC. He said the RDA wanted to utilise a piece of land owned by the RMC for a parking plaza in Raja Bazaar.

“But we have already informed the provincial government that the RMC would use the land for the construction of a parking plaza.”

He said the land in front of Novelty Cinema was basically a greenbelt between commercial buildings and was not a property of the RDA.

The official said the government and the elected union council chairmen would decide about the future of the land owned by the RMC.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2018