Builders threaten to stop construction activities for indefinite period

The Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) has threatened the federal government that they would stop all construction activities for an indefinite period if the newly imposed immoveable property valuation is not deferred for one year.

ABAD Chairman Mohsin Sheikhani has urged the federal government to defer the property valuation exercise, cautioning that if officials did not pay heed ABAD members they would go to the court.

The association also rejected “unbearable” betterment charges imposed by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and asked the government to withdraw them immediately.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Sheikhani claimed that more than 60 per cent construction activities, involving more than Rs100 billion, have come to a halt due to double property valuation mechanism.

“If this mechanism is not abandoned until the next budget, all members of ABAD will be forced to stop their projects; to get a relief, we will also take the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to court,” he added.

For months, ABAD has raised objection over the immoveable property valuation mechanism of the FBR because it believes it is not possible to gather information about property values throughout the country in a very short span.

ABAD insists that the district commissioner valuation mechanism is being followed for the past 63 years and any change takes time, therefore, a new system should not be imposed overnight.

He said the House Building Finance Company Ltd (HBFCL) has suspended loan approval for houses having the valuation of more than Rs1.5 million. The loan has been limited to Rs1.275m which is a biased and politically motivated decision as almost all money with the company was being directed towards a particular province.

He said all citizens of the country have the right to avail the loan facility of financing by the HBFCL without any discrimination.

However, speaking media, HBFC Managing Director Pervez Said had denied that the company was discriminating against any province in the disbursement of home loans.

Replying to a question, he said that Sui Southern Gas Company was not giving new gas connections to the residential societies developed by the builders despite a court order.

Moreover, the ABAD chairman said the SBCA was levying betterment charges on those projects which have already paid development charges.