Under tremendous pressure from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is all set to re-auction the land leased out to nurseries for peanuts. CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inyat Elahi on Thursday told the sub-committee of PAC that the civic authority’s board had approved a policy for auctioning nursery plots on an open auction basis in which the highest bidder would be given licences for 10 years to set up nurseries there.
He said the CDA, following PAC’s directions, had terminated the 30-year lease of eight nurseries and they were operating on one-year licence. The PAC had found irregularities in the extension of lease of eight nursery plots on Park Road near Chak Shahzad. These nurseries are paying a Rs 11,718 per acre per annum rent which was Rs 9,375 during 2007-2010.
To investigate the matter, a few months ago the PAC constituted a sub-committee which found the CDA had not followed the rules of Pakistan Procurement Regulatory Authority while extending the lease periods. The committee had found that in 2009, the CDA had renewed the leases of eight out of the 23 plots for 30 years without inviting bids.
Responding to the CDA chairman’s reply, a sub-committee member , Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, said the CDA had suffered due to the irregularity committed by the CDA managers while leasing out the land for peanuts in the past. The CDA chairman answered the land had been leased in good faith, and the CDA had started leasing out land in the early 70s but the irregularities in leasing out the plots had occurred for lack of a policy in this regard.
Yasmeen Rehman said some nursery owners had built houses on the plots, which reflected the CDA’s mismanagement. Imtiaz said only one nursery owner had done so. The PAC sub-committee sought a comprehensive report from the audit authorities regarding the construction of Islamabad Gun Club over the 70 acres of land allotted by the CDA. The CDA officials told the committee that the land had been allocated in 2001 on the direction of former president Pervez Musharraf for SAF games.
The committee members expressed displeasure over the leasing of the precious land to Gun Club for 33 years for low rent. Rehman said, “Instead of setting up such clubs, schools and hospitals should be constructed for the welfare of the general public.” CDA DG Planning Sarwar Sindhu told the committee that the club was paying a reasonable yearly rent, was being run by a management body and, currently, Faisal Butt was its administrator.
The DG audit (works) asked the committee to direct the CDA to provide all relevant record of Gun Club to the audit authorities. The audit official said the CDA was not providing the documents related to shuttle service for the diplomatic enclave to the audit department.
Bidding guidelines
Following are the salient features of the CDA’s policy for leasing out land to nurseries:
1) The allotment would be made by inviting applications through the press and auction held among the pre-qualified parties.
2) Applications for licensing nursery plots will be invited from the individuals, firms and companies with sufficient experience in raising trees, ornamental/decorative plants and flowers production. They must have the experience of successfully running the nursery business for more than five years.
3) The applications received will be scrutinised by a three-member committee, headed by member (estate).
4) The allotment will be on the licence basis for a period of 10 years and the licences would be renewed on yearly basis.
5) The licence fee shall be increased at the rate of 25% after every three years.
6) Nursery plots will be liable to cancellation if the licensee fails to develop the nursery within one year from the date of taking possession of the land.
7) The CDA will have the right to revoke any licence at any time without assigning any reason by giving a two-month notice in advance
8) The licensee of the land will only establish a nursery and no other use will be allowed at the licensed land.
9) The licensee will not be allowed to construct any permanent building or structure on the plots licensed for nursery.
10) The licensee shall be bound to first sell the planned stock grown in the nursery to the civic authority, if so required by it.