I was looking for a villa at emaar pakistan (canyon views islamabad) and came to know about weird things right from it's residents. Let me say first that i visited the place only once having seen their marketing online once from dubai.
Looks like the entire development is in collapse. The houses are built with very bad quality compare to what we see and expect from emaar. Few years old and literally they are dilapidated and falling apart - as if built in 1950s. The only maintained road is from it's entrance to the sales office, rest is rather and extremely poorly maintained. On the surface, i was told, it looks green but that's all.
Following are some of the issues that i was told by some of its residents, that i would like to know if affecting the property value there:
- there's a serious issues with the electricity supply as there's regular outages, sometime over 12 hours or some times even more, even if there's no load shedding in the surrounding areas. I was told that it is so severe that some of the people there sold their properties and moved to nearby dha or bahria town where they have their own power generation.
- water supply issue: as there's no backup supply so if there's a power breakdown there, which is regular with very long intervals, there's no water pumped into homes. Often emaar supply water through some tractor trollies or something with tanks on it.
- there are no emergency center/clinic/medical services or ambulance service or anything whatsoever. Not even shops, market, restaurants of any kind. I was shown a tuck shop with a half finished store next to it that is under-construction for several years now. No graveyard, no community center, in fact there seem to be an absence of any basic facility for the residents and community.
- i was shown a mosque that was in a very dangerous condition and may fall apart anytime as the ground below it is slipping and cracks as so obvious that anyone can guess what will come next. I was amazed that people were still using it as it is the only mosque for the entire community in emaar.
- there's no fire station or any such facility - so if something happens god forbid, people are on their own as there's no fire station anywhere nearby.
- i also noticed that there's only one entrance/exit to the development. I was told that it is often blocked when the expressway is blocked. If there's an emergency at home or need to reach airport then you are out of luck.
- stray dogs and boars can be easily seen roaming on the streets inside emaar. Looks like it is at least wile animal friendly place to live.
- i was told that often there is firing due to land disputes with the adjacent villages and they can enter emaar or fire towards villas - seems like some of the land is not acquired legally.
Due to these issues the property prices are very low, many residents told me that emaar is selling new villas and plots on inflated prices especially to expats. Those that are aware of emaar's reputation avoiding it at all cost.
Now comes my $100 question, i checked prices for many villas that are few years old and for sale on very low prices compare to adjacent dha. All house are built on a land around one kanal or more and available in 4/5/7 bed designs. A 4 bed house is costing around 20m + with the land. Having checked dha i see these prices favorably. The question is, is it worth investing in these villas now?
Those who know this development and understanding the above concerns please advise on the risk factor.
If you have considered all the negative things, then what is the point of investing there. You may lose all your money, in the hope of making profit later.
I agree with your input, I visited this place last week and it seemed haunted even during the day, at night one could imagine the horror…