According to sources, amendments in ordinance 1960 of CDA is awaiting for the final nod of president of Pakistan. The amendments once made would empower the civic agency to make joint ventures regarding development of new and stalled residential sectors with private firms.
The proposed amendments in ordinance accorded approval by federal capital in June 2012 and they were submitted to president of Pakistan for circulation of ordinance. The documents reveal there are additions of new sections in approved amendments draft of ordinance.
One of the propped sections is 33C which says that authority is empowered to withdraw from the acquired pieces of land provided that it issues prior notifications before taking possession of the lands. The authority is at liberty to withdraw from acquired land if it thinks land acquiring is no more required for the scheme and if compensation is not paid by it.
One of the CDA officials says it owes 36 billion against the land acquired which is of no use for CDA. We have not compensated landowners and are looking forward to getting rid of this debt. On the other hand, with respect to making joint ventures a new section 10A has been added in CDA ordinance which highlights the establishment of ‘Public-Private Partnership Cell.’
The cell is instructed to be made of local bodies and agencies other than CDA, independent technical and legal experts, representatives form finance department and officials within the CDA. The cell would be responsible to identify suitable projects for the sector and appoint necessary staff for its preparation and implementation. To monitor and see day to day work on the project, the section also provides guidelines to establish an implementation unit for the project.
City managers want these amendments in ordinance, since they believe CDA is lacks financial resources and it already owes debt in land acquisition. CDA has also highlighted a solid reason behind this move that the land in developed sectors is priced very high due to speculations, inflation and manipulation which is causing hurdle for the genuine buyers in investment.
The chairman of CDA, Engineer Farkhand Iqbal, says development of sectors by making joint ventures would be a proven model but unfortunately it was not added in CDA ordinance, when it was drafted some five years ago. He further added that due to incomprehensive CDA ordinance, the apex court had struck E-11 joint venture but now authority can develop stalled sectors without any hurdles.
He also highlighted that these amendments would not only reduce miseries of affected people of stalled projects but would also close the door of corruption. He also highlighted that the future strategy of CDA is to develop sectors G-12 and F-12 first. He also said that development by holding joint ventures would resolve housing issues in the federal capital of the country.
