ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) board on Friday decided to open membership for the F-9 Citizen Club and give the first 99 memberships through an open auction.
Similarly, the board also decided to convert the G-10 Ladies Club into Islamabad Gymkhana and its first 99 memberships will also be given through an auction.
The board, which met with CDA Chairman Noorul Amin Mengal in the chair, besides other agenda items, discussed the issue of membership of Gandhara Heritage Culture and the Convention Centre in F-9’s Citizen Club.
The board appointed a member of CDA as the administrator of the Ghandhara Club/Citizen Club besides forming a four-member committee under the chairmanship of CDA chairman to look into the issues of Islamabad gymkhana.
The Gandhara Heritage Culture and Convention Centre in F-9’s Citizen Club has been lying vacant for years. Formerly known as the Citizen Club, the facility spreads over 22 acres with a 265,000 square feet covered area.
CDA to auction first 99 memberships of Citizen Club, Islamabad Gymkhana
It has restaurants, an indoor pool, gym, lobby, aerobic area and a fitness centre. Its construction was started by the CDA in 2008, but in 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that the building could not be used as a club.
In October 2021, the CDA board approved rules for the Gandhara centre and decided that a board of governors would manage it and citizens will pay for the facilities provided by the Convention Centre. The facility would also be used for conventions and exhibitions as well. This centre would also have a museum depicting Gandhara culture.
The board also approved the conversion of G-10 Ladies Club into Islamabad Gymkhana.
The grey structure of the buildings of Ladies Club was lying abandoned for years. The construction of the Ladies Club in sector G-10 was started in 2007 but abandoned in 2010 after the structure and civil work were finished. Since then, no step was taken for completing the work to make it functional for the public.
Meanwhile, the board approved a new business policy to waive land use conversion fee of some specific trades that included private schools, showrooms, automobile workshops, hospitals, hostels and nurseries.
The CDA board decided that for setting up the businesses on nine major roads the civic agency will charge only a nominal licence fee annually. The board members said the step was taken to keep residential areas clean from unbridled commercial activities.
The board rejected a summary which proposed that those housing and commercial projects which fall in the limits of Islamabad and had gotten approval from Rawalpindi should be taken over by the CDA on the basis of approval given by the RDA. Similarly, the summary pleaded that those projects which fall in Rawalpindi but had been approved by the CDA should be taken over by the RDA.
There are dozens of projects that fall in Islamabad near the border of Rawalpindi and many developers instead of getting approval from the CDA got the NOC from the RDA and now they want to get CDA’s legal cover. The board decided that if any project wants to get regularisation from the CDA, it should fulfil the criteria and submit the due fee.
Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2023