ISLAMABAD: After the expiry of the 15-year lease period, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is going for a new auction of around 80 acres of land in Lake View Park Phase II, as an official evaluator has been appointed to fix the cost of structures made on the land by previous lessees.

The civic agency expects sizeable revenue from the auction.

“We are going to auction our land in Lake View Park Phase II to generate revenue,” said CDA Deputy Director General Irfan Niazi.

He noted that the previous lease, after the completion of 15 years, had been terminated. Besides, in the previous lease, there was no mention of the structure built on the land; therefore, CDA appointed an evaluator to determine the cost of the structure, he added.

Mr Niazi said, “Once this process is completed, we will go for a fresh auction,” adding that the previous lesee will be given the first right but after a competitive process.

“After the competitive process, the previous leaseholder will be given the right to get the lease if he wants to pay the highest bid,” he said.

To attract more investors, the CDA had already completed landscaping and horticulture works in the area under social corporate responsibility (CSR), he added.

Meanwhile, the civic agency has decided that this time around there will be a clear mention in the advertisement that the successful bidder will have no right to structures, and after completion of the lease period, the lessee will have to surrender its structures in favour of CDA.

Mr Niazi said that in the area the CDA will also set up Nizami Street — for food outlets, gift shops - and it will be an eco-friendly area as people will have to reach this site by horse carts, etc.

In 2007, the CDA in highly dubious and controversial ways auctioned the said sites, including some without tenders. In both legal and illegal leases, the CDA fixed very nominal charges of Rs120,000 per acre per annum, meaning those who leased the land only had to pay Rs10,000 per month for each acre of prime land in the federal capital.

The companies given the leases were also supposed to share 5 per cent of their profits with the CDA, but sources say the civic agency has received little or no profit as most companies are showing losses in their businesses.

However, the deputy director general said that an open and transparent process would be adopted and people would get maximum lease rent to generate maximum rent.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2024