The Pakistani government is currently considering allowing CDA to carry out joint ventures with other private parties in order to improve its financial condition.
Bear in mind, the civic agency was previously not allowed to enter into any joint venture, under the CDA Ordinance 1960. However, the amended ordinance will allow the authority to enter into the joint ventures. The ordinance is currently with President Zardari and may be signed soon.
According to one CDA official, the need for amendment was felt when the Supreme Court cancelled a join venture of the authority for launching a private housing scheme in April 2011. When the project was cancelled, the other party claimed Rs2.03 billion from the CDA saying it had already spent on buying the land from the owners and developing it. However, the company decided to pay Rs1.26 billion. The matter is still in court which shows that joint ventures are controversial and need a deeper scrutiny.
Another official said that the amended ordinance will help private developers. The authority will direct the private parties to vacate the state lands currently under adverse possession without paying compensation to the original owners occupying it for the smooth development of residential sectors.
A law department official said that the amended ordinance will enable officials from different specialized sections of finance, technical wing and legal experts to identify suitable projects, negotiate and sign agreements with private parties after getting an approval from the CDA Board.
Everyone is not in favour of this amendment as one official said that this move will benefit the powerful property tycoons and open new avenues of corruption and the authority would be dependent on the developers and would move away from its main task of developing the capital city.
However, the spokesperson of civic authority insisted that joint ventures would help the authority to complete the projects, halted for many years.
