Basic facilities like land, central road and water are missing in Thalian Housing Project but Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) is selling plots there at much exorbitant rates, such as a plot of 500 square yards is being sold at Rs 2.5 million against its original cost of Rs 50,000.
This was revealed to National Assembly Sanding Committee on Housing and Works which met with Rajab Ali Khan Baloch in the chair here on Thursday. The committee was briefed by the director general FGEHF with regard to acquisition of land for Thalian Interchange Joint Venture Housing Project, access from Islamabad-Lahore Motorway, site plan, maps and other things related to the project.
MNA Ghulam Sawar Khan said that land has not been acquired for Thalian Housing Project, but advertisements with the Prime Minister's photos are being issued. He further said that neither is there any central route nor is water availability for the project. The FGEHF is selling plots at Rs 2.5 million per kanal in the housing society while their actual cost is Rs 50,000 per kanal. He also exchanged harsh words with the director general FGEHF. Land has not been acquired for 11,000 plots but the process of collecting money from government employees has been started, said MNA Iqbal Muhammad Ali.
MNA Sajid Nawaz said how the FGEHF signed agreement with the land owners without any title. The director general informed the committee members that 15 companies participated in the prequalification process, adding that out of these 15 companies, seven companies were short listed. Later on, one company qualified for the Thalian Interchange Joint Venture Housing Project. He said that an agreement was signed with the commitment that qualified company will provide 7,000-10,000 kanals of land in the specific areas, and, accordingly they have been provided 1,400 kanals of land till date, which is under the survey process by the FGEHF. He further stated that they have been offered 4,800 kanals more land so far.
The director general FGEHF apprised the committee that the government is not paying any fund in advance to party B (land provider); therefore, the government has zero risk in building the project. However, the committee was of the view that the government is collecting public money for the development, etc.
The director general FGEHF said that the FGEHF will provide premium on the deposit of public money, instead of deduction at the time of refund, if it is required by someone. He said that negotiations for construction of interchange at Thalian with the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and National Highways Authority (NHA) are under process. He also informed the committee members that the government will subsidise the cost of development of commercial areas of the said project.
The committee expressed apprehensions over awaited title of the project and procedure adopted by the government for acquisition of land and selection of land provider. The committee showed its reservations over the distribution of commercial area by the ratio of 10:90 for the government and land provider respectively. The committee has directed the director general FGEHF to provide documents to the committee for its consideration before the next meeting, including the copy of the summary submitted to the Cabinet in 2016, approval of the Cabinet in this regard, details of 15 companies participated for prequalification, details of seven short listed companies along with their offers, and the details of selected company along with its offer.
The committee decided that next meeting would be convened shortly and remaining agenda pertaining to Bhara Kahu Housing Scheme will be considered; however, the director general informed the committee that the FGEHF has informed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that mediation process adopted by the NAB for resolving the issue between developer and government has been failed; therefore, necessary legal action should be taken in this regard.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Rana Zahid Hussain Khan, Nasir Iqbal Bosal, Tahira Aurangzeb, Khalida Mansoor, Shahida Rehmani, Sajid Nawaz Khan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan, Secretary M/o Housing Maulana Ameer Zaman and other senior officers of the relevant departments.