ISLAMABAD, July 23: The imposition of additional development charges on the plot owners of Sector D-12 has been opposed by the finance wing of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), a well- informed source told Dawn on Tuesday.

In this regard, the finance wing had presented a summary during a CDA board meeting, criticizing the collection of additional development charges at the rate of Rs650 per sq yard, he said.

However, the board was reluctant to entertain the summary and directed the official concerned of the finance wing to make some amendments to the document and produce it in the next meeting.

The source said the CDA board had some reservations about the contents and formation of the summary.

The board, he said, in some previous meetings, had justified the collection of additional development charges.

The board members, who favoured the imposition of additional development charges, were of the view that the development cost of the sector had escalated due to long delay in its completion, compelling the CDA to collect additional development charges.

They added that the estimated expenditure for developing the new sector had escalated over 300 per cent during the span of 14 years.

A senior authority official, commenting on the issue, agreed that additional development charges should not be collected, adding that these charges would be an extra burden on the plot owners.

When contacted, CDA member finance Masud Muzaffar told Dawn that the authority was expected to generate Rs500 million by collecting additional development charges.

However, the authority has already collected Rs700 million as development charges from those who have already purchased plot in the sector, the official added.

The plot owners have also rejected the imposition of additional development charges. However, they are being forced by the CDA to pay the amount, the source said.

He said the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) had also directed the authority not to take additional development charges from the plot owners.

The committee, in its recent meeting, observed that the CDA could meet the escalated cost of the project by selling 720 commercial plots in the new sector.

The Rs788 million PC-I of the project had been approved by the CDA board in 1988, but due to several reasons, the project could not be completed and its estimated cost increased by Rs3.7 billion. However, recently, Ecnec has slashed down its cost by Rs3.2 billion.