PESHAWAR, Dec 27: The City Development and Municipal Department (CDMD) has asked the provincial government to use force against the so-called land owners who had stopped construction work on Regi Model Town project, sources said. A summary has been moved to the chief minister requesting him to order use of force against the people who had occupied the site of the project, said a senior official.
“The project executing agency has yet to receive response from the chief minister”, sources told Dawn.
Work on the Rs8 billion project came to a halt three months ago when a group, claiming to be owners of the land, forcibly ejected contractors and CDMD staff from the site.
Regi Model Town, sprawling over 4,616 acres, is one of the biggest housing schemes in the country. Construction of roads and sewerage system has almost been completed in four of the five zones of the project.
An official said that the CDMD had sufficient funds, but prevailing lawlessness in the area was hampering the project.
“If the government provides security to the contractors the CDMD can ensure hindrance-free possession of residential units to allottees/owners within a period of one year”, he said.
He said that a few self-proclaimed land owners did not allow contractors and official staff to continue work despite presence of the police force and occupied entire site of the project.
“And the provincial and the city district governments were giving lukewarm response to our requests. None of them has taken any action against the group”, he added.
City Nazim Haji Ghulam Ali said that he was aware of the situation but would not be able to resolve the dispute until the last phase of the local government elections was complete.
Sources said that the ring leader of the occupants, Jan Commando, had no property in the Regi project and was acting as a proxy for some others.
Jan Commando had publicly declared that he would not allow CDMD to restart work on the project unless the provincial government paid compensation.
These sources said that the CDMD management and some political forces on its back were also responsible for the unnecessary delay in the execution of the project.
Roughly, the government has so far suffered Rs1 billion losses due to delay in completion of the mega project.