CDA accelerates action against illegal housing schemes

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Mayor and Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz said Tuesday that the authority has further accelerated action against illegal housing schemes in the federal capital.

Anser Aziz expressed these views while chairing a meeting at CDA Headquarters to review the progress of Building Control Directorates. Senior officers concerned of the Building Control Directorates and Planning Wing were also present in the meeting.

On the occasion, he said that all relevant divisions of the authority were acting on a coordinated strategy to ensure enforcement of CDA’s prevailing rules in this regard.

In this connection, a comprehensive media campaign was launched by the authority to warn the general public about these illegally operating housing societies in different zones of the capital.

Participants of the meeting were informed that strict action was initiated against illegal housing schemes/societies, which would continue in the future as well.

The meeting was told that CDA had declared all phases of Ghori Town housing society in zone IV and V as an illegal housing society. A public notice in this regard had also been published in leading newspapers, stating that per CDA Ordinance 1960, 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 Akber and Abdur Rehman Associates on Islamabad highway and Lehtrar Road, was an illegal housing scheme that was being advertised and marketed without taking prior approval from CDA.

The meeting was further informed that the sponsors of the illegal and unauthorised Ghori Town (all phases) scheme have not provided land/plots for parks, playgrounds, open spaces, schools, mosques, dispensaries, health centres, graveyard, and public amenity plots per the Land Use Standards prescribed in the ICT (Zoning) Regulation 1992 and the Modalities and Procedures framed there under.

Moreover, participants were informed that the owners of the illegal housing society have failed to develop utility infrastructure network including, water supply network, sewage network with sewage treatment plant, drainage network and other facilities in Ghori Town up to standard, thus creating environmental hazards not only for the residents of the unauthorized housing scheme, but also for inhabitants of the entire surrounding area.

Furthermore, 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 told.

The meeting was also briefed about the public notice that residential buildings, plazas and commercial buildings in Ghouri Town (all phases) were being constructed without obtaining approval of building plans from CDA, which was alarming and posed a potential threat to the lives and properties of the residents as Islamabad Building Control Regulations 2005 were not being adhered to.

Moreover, participants were also informed that the general public was hereby warned/cautioned in their own interest to refrain from making any booking/sale/purchase of plots in the above-mentioned housing society. In addition, Islamabad Electric Supply Company, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority have also stopped the process of providing connections to the building structures (residential and commercial) that were constructed without the approval of CDA.

The sponsors and management of the unauthorised Ghori Town scheme have also been warned to refrain from advertising the project, and stop bookings, allotments, and transfers of plots, while directing the owners to immediately stop construction activities in the illegal housing scheme. In case of failure to adhere to the order, strict action would be initiated against the sponsors of the illegal scheme under CDA Ordinance 1960 and ICT (Zoning) Regulation 1992.