The Capital Development Authority (CDA) Tuesday informed a parliamentary body that all the housing societies in Bani Gala area of Islamabad as well as a number of other housing societies are not approved by the civic body so all the societies stand illegal.
Briefing the subcommittee of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which met under the chairmanship of Mian Abdul Mannan, Chairman CDA Usman Akhtar Bajwa said that despite the fact the authority time and again keeps on warning the masses not to invest in illegal housing societies, no one is seriously paying any head.
The panel while discussing the pending and delayed audit paras of CDA also discussed Rs 39.7 billion irregularities in various contracts issued by the CDA. The panel was informed by the officials of the Auditor General of Pakistan that CDA awarded contract of Diplomatic Shuttle Service in violation of set rules and regulations and it caused Rs 847.4 million loss to national kitty.
The committee asked the chairman CDA that the record of shuttle service has been stolen three times but as yet the civic body has failed to bring real facts on the award of illegal contract to a blue-eyed person for such a long period which was extended time and again.
The chairman CDA said that the authority has started computerizing all the record of CDA which will be completed within next five months and will help check illegal societies and protect the record.
Bajwa said that the CDA is taking action against all the illegal housing societies and has declared four housing societies located in Zone-IV as illegal and has issued a public notice where the civic agency's planning wing has announced that these schemes were advertised and marked without any approval of the CDA.
The chairman CDA stated that the authority has received the details about the plans and projects from the organizers of the recently concluded real estate exhibition in Islamabad and currently the plans are under analysis, adding that the authority in future will not allow emergence of any illegal housing society.
He said that the CDA has served notices on the operators of existing illegal/unapproved housing societies. The notice declares that as per CDA Ordinance, 1960, ICT (Zoning) Regulation, 1992 and modalities and procedures framed under ICT (Zoning) regulations, Ghauri Town, Rehman Residentia, Akbar Enclave and JS Block launched in Zone-IV of the Islamabad Capital Territory by Messrs Green Spires (Pvt) Ltd on Islamabad Highway and Lehtrar Road are illegal.
Furthermore, the buildings, plazas and the commercial structures constructed in the abovementioned societies have been built without obtaining approval of building plans from the CDA. "The state of affairs is alarming and a potential threat to life and property of the residents due to non-adherence to Islamabad Building Regulations, 2005," it said.
The CDA has warned the general public to refrain from buying, selling, purchasing and renting plots and land in all of the societies that have been declared illegal.
Furthermore, IESCO, SNGPL and PTCL were ordered to stop providing electricity, gas and phone services to illegally constructed residential and commercial buildings without the approval of CDA. The sponsors and management of the unauthorized societies, Raja Ali Akbar and Company and Raja Jahangir Akbar and Raja Salman have categorically cautioned against advertising, booking, allotment, transfer, and marketing of plots and land in their illegal schemes.
In case of non-compliance, the CDA plans to take a strict and punitive action against the sponsors of the illegal schemes under the CDA Ordinance, 1960 and ICT (Zoning) Regulations, 1992.
The panel also snubbed Tahir Mahmood Hayat, Managing Director (MD) NESPAK, for his failure to take action against the illegal appointments in the entity. The committee directed MD to fix responsibility on the officials involved in causing Rs 20 million financial losses to NESPAK through illegal appointments and present the report before the panel.
Member Committee Mahmood Khan Achakzai said that the officials must implement PAC directives in letter and spirit. The officials of the PAC secretariat briefing the panel said that the case should be probed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and MD NESPAK must also be included in the probe as why did he not implement the PAC orders.
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