ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA), on the recommendation of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), has decided to introduce new regulations to manage housing societies and apartment projects.

Once approved, only plots and apartments included in the layout plan of a scheme will be allowed for sale.

Under the proposed regulations, every scheme and operator of apartment projects will be required to open Dubai-model escrow accounts. The revenue collected for a specific scheme will not be allowed to be spent on expansion or any other project.

The escrow accounts will be jointly operated by the owner of the scheme and the CDA, and the funds will be used only for the development of the scheme area for which they were collected.

Director General NAB Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Waqar Ahmed Chohan, who attended a CDA ceremony at Jinnah Convention Centre marking the distribution of possession letters for plots in Sector I-15, said, “NAB, in collaboration with CDA, is introducing a new system to promote transparency in the housing sector.”

He said under the new system, allotment letters will be issued with barcodes to prevent counterfeit documents. Furthermore, it has been recommended to make it mandatory for housing societies to open escrow accounts, he added.

He also added that funds deposited by allottees in escrow accounts could only be used for the development activities of their respective societies.

After his speech, Dawn contacted sources in the NAB office, who said that Mr Chohan, after consulting stakeholders, including CDA officials, finalised these recommendations to curb the practice of over-invoicing in Islamabad.

The sources said that a majority of housing societies had sold nearly double the number of plots compared to those existing in their approved layout plans, leaving a large number of people struggling to obtain possession of their plots.

The sources further said that in addition to introducing barcoded allotment letters and escrow accounts, the DG NAB had expressed concern over the misuse of amenity land in housing schemes and over several abandoned projects where developers sold plots to thousands of people but never initiated development work.

“The DG NAB and CDA are already in discussions on these four key points. We believe that if these new regulations are implemented, no more fictitious allotments will be made in any housing or apartment schemes in Islamabad,” said a NAB source.

It is pertinent to mention that there are around 170 housing schemes in Islamabad, both privately owned and cooperative. Of these, 65 have approved layout plans or No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the CDA, while only 40 currently have valid NOCs.

In addition, there are about 100 completely illegal schemes in Islamabad, mostly small in size, except for the illegal Ghouri Town, one of the largest housing schemes in the capital.

NAB sources said it has been observed that builders often collect money through open cheques or cash from the general public and maintain multiple bank accounts for various projects. In some cases, funds collected for one project are transferred to another without completing the required development work in the original scheme.

When asked about those who have already faced fraud at the hands of housing society operators, sources said that NAB and CDA will jointly play their role in addressing such cases. The sources added that CDA management will soon present these recommendations to the CDA Board and once approved, the new regulations will be officially notified.

The ceremony was presided over by CDA Chairman Muhammad Ali Randhawa, while DG NAB attended as the special guest.

CDA Board members, the Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad, and plot owners were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, the CDA Chairman and DG NAB Rawalpindi/Islamabad congratulated the plot owners on receiving possession of their plots.

According to CDA, the process of handing over possession of more than 8,600 developed plots out of a total of 10,200 in Sector I-15 has commenced, with an estimated value exceeding Rs70 billion.

“Initially, during the ceremony on Thursday, possession of plots was handed over to more than 200 owners in Sector I-15. This sector was specifically launched for low-income citizens,” read a CDA press release.

“Formal possession of plots in Sector I-15 has now begun, where development work, pending for over two decades, has been completed,” said the CDA chairman.

He added that fulfilling Islamabad’s residential needs is “among our top priorities, as per the directions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi,” and acknowledged NAB’s support in removing obstacles that delayed the sector’s development.

Mr Randhawa thanked NAB for its cooperation, saying that collaboration between CDA and NAB had resulted in a historic achievement in securing the legal rights of Sector I-15 allottees.

He announced that the remaining allottees, other than the 200 who received certificates during the ceremony, would be provided with possession documents at their doorstep.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2025