Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Monday cancelled the 99 years lease granted to BNP (Private) Limited for construction of Grand Hayat located on Constitution Avenue Adjacent to Convention Centre and Diplomatic Enclave. The CDA auctioned the 13.5 acre plot on Constitution Avenue to the BNP Group for Rs 4.88 billion in 2005, however, the possession of the plot was transferred after receiving just Rs 800 million.
The BNP paid the CDA Rs 1.02 billion so far while the remaining Rs 3.85 billion was supposed to be paid in instalments until 2026. Initially, the Grand Hayat building was allowed to be 718-feet tall but its height was reduced to 300-feet after objections raised by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The CDA submitted a detailed report in leasing of the said plot to BNP on July 20, 2016. According to which civic authority initially wanted to lease out the land for 33 years and for 6 storey tall building only. The report said that CDA offered the plot to the BNP, which consisted of the Bismillah Textile, Niagara Mills, Paragon City and Dubai based Belhasa International Company but signed the lease agreement with another company called Elite Fashion, a subsidiary of Bismillah Textile, which was renamed as BNP (Private) Limited on May 2, 2005.
In 2012, the then chairman CDA Syed Tahir Shahbaz rescheduled the payment plan and allowed BNP to pay the remaining amount till 2026. The building plan was valid from 2008 to 2013 and was not re-validated. BNP sold apartments in the building without obtaining a completion certificate, the report claimed. The CDA further alleged that M/s BNP was allowed to construct 124 service apartments but it constructed over 240 and in contrary to the CDA by-laws sold all of them to the private parties.
The CDA sealed the under-construction Grand Hayat and referred the matter related to the rescheduling and slow recovery of the amount to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which is currently investigating it.