- The hotel and apartment complex violated almost every rule in the book under CDA’s nose
The most recent scandal to jolt the Capital Development Authority revolves around the construction of Grand Hyatt Hotel and two towers of apartments near red zone area of Islamabad.
The CDA finally sealed off the hotel earlier this month and the owners moved the court for a stay order which was granted.
In a recent development, the CDA chairman has admitted that Kamran Lashari, former chairman of CDA, relaxed the rules in order to accommodate the ‘high rise’ buildings in the capital. CDA, the civic authority responsible for development and maintenance of capital, is under stress before the legislators and judges.
The CDA maintains that the CDA did not know that the BNP Group committed serious violations during construction. Originally, a skyscraper hotel and two towers having apartments were to be built. Even after a decade of possession, the group built grey structures of two apartment towers while no progress has been made on the hotel building at all.
Shafi Marwat, Director Building Control Section of CDA while talking to Pakistan Today spelled out the violations committed by the builder.
“Firstly, they made more apartments than allowed, and doubled the number of apartments. Secondly, they sold the apartments when they were allowed to rent them out. Thirdly, the construction of the hotel tower has not even started in a decade or so,” he said.
Marwat also said that the payment of installments was also rescheduled till 2026.
For past many weeks, the whole scandal reared its head in many places and the BNP Group even brought the matter before court and scored an injunction against sealing of the project site. The recent development came when CDA submitted its chairman’s response implicating Lashari for being lenient towards the group and had not paid much heed to rules and regulations pertaining to the matter.
The CDA, whose many directorates were handed over to Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation, is currently under a lot of stress due to water crisis, weakened worker union, loss of monopoly over resources and funds coupled with mighty scandals and scams involving its high-ups.
