ISLAMABAD: Mayor of Islamabad and Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz said Saturday that the authority has accelerated operation against illegal housing schemes in the federal capital.
He said all associated formations of the authority were acting upon a coordinated strategy to ensure enforcement of CDA’s prevailing rules by taking action against illegal housing societies. In this connection, a comprehensive media campaign was being launched to warn the general public about illegal housing societies in different zones of the federal capital.
The CDA chairman expressed these views while chairing a meeting at CDA Headquarters to review the progress of the authority’s Building Control Directorates. Senior officers of the Building Control Directorates and Planning Wing were also present in the meeting.
During the meeting, the officials concerned were informed that strict action was being taken against illegal housing societies. In this regard, the meeting was informed that CDA had declared all phases of Ghori Town housing society in Zone IV and Zone V as an illegal housing scheme.
A public notice in this regard had been published in leading newspapers, which stated that per CDA Ordinance 1960, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) (Zoning) Regulation 1992 and Modalities and Procedures framed under ICT (Zoning) Regulation, Ghori Town (all phases) launched in Zone-IV and Zone V of the ICT by Raja Ali Akbar and a company run by Abdur Rehman Associates on Islamabad highway and Lehtrar Road, were illegal housing schemes being advertised and marketed without taking prior approval from CDA.
The sponsors of the illegal and unauthorised Ghori Town scheme have not provided land/plots for parks, playgrounds, open spaces, schools, mosques, dispensaries, health centres, graveyard, public amenity plots per Land Use Standards prescribed in the ICT (Zoning) Regulation 1992, and the Modalities and Procedures framed there under.
Moreover, the meeting was informed that persons behind the housing society have failed to developed utility infrastructure networks, including water supply network, sewage network with sewage treatment plant and drainage network, in Ghori Town (all phases) per set standards, thereby creating environmental hazards not only for the residents, but the entire surrounding area as well.
Furthermore, the meeting was apprised that these societies have been cheating the general public and minting money at the cost of the health and safety of the general public.
The meeting was also briefed about the public notice, stating that residential buildings/plazas and commercial buildings in the illegal scheme of Ghori Town (all phases) were being constructed without obtaining approval of building plans from CDA, which was alarming and a potential threat to life and property of the residents, as Islamabad Building Control Regulations 2005 were not being adhered to.
The meeting was told that the general public was hereby warned/cautioned in their own interest to refrain from making any booking, sale or purchase of plots in the above mentioned illegal housing society. Departments including Islamabad Electric Supply Company, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited have also stopped connections to the building structures (residential and commercial buildings) constructed without approval of CDA.
The sponsors/management of the unauthorised Ghori Town scheme (all phases), namely Raja Ali Akbar and Abdur Rehman Associates, have been also warned by the authority concerned to refrain from advertising the project, and stop all activities in connection to booking, allotment, transfer and marketing of plots. Owners of the housing society were further warned that all construction activities in the illegal housing scheme should be stopped immediately.
In case of failure to adhere to the orders, strict action would be initiated against the sponsors of the illegal scheme under CDA Ordinance 1960 and ICT (Zoning) Regulation 1992.
