LDA responds to LDA City allegations

In our last post on LDA City, we discussed National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s intervention in the project’s affairs, more specifically the bureau’s plans to scrutinize its records to figure out if there are any discrepancies. The NAB was solicited by the stakeholders and it was at their behest that it jumped into the game.

Reportedly, the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and its allies, who have direct involvement in the execution of the LDA City project, stand accused of overselling plot files in the locality. In this vein, the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly vehemently expressed his concerns over the prevailing issues, going as far as to allege that the development partners have fleeced over PKR 16 billion from innocent folks.

But you should note that these are mere allegations, and convictions to these allegations will come forth after NAB scrutinises the records.

LDA’s response

Showing concerns for its large-scale project, spanning more than 60,000 kanals, the authority has come out with its response to the allegations.

According to a news source, an LDA spokesperson has clarified that the affairs of LDA City are being dealt with transparently, adding that the negative impressions about irregularities associated with the project hold no gravity.

The spokesperson assuredly claimed that there is nothing wrong about the housing scheme, as all the processes adopted for handling issues have been implemented after seeking proper approvals.

He also confirmed that NAB has not discussed any complaints about the project with the LDA yet and reiterated that the authority welcomes the bureau with open arms to probe the matter. While expressing his views on the performance of the LDA, the official said that maintaining transparency during the execution of projects is the hallmark of the authority. He alluded to the certification that the LDA received by Transparency International (TI) for the Metro Bus project, adding that the records were offered voluntarily to TI.

Now that the LDA has given a ‘clarification’ in response to the published reports that point fingers at its performance in the LDA City project, the stakeholders should wait a little longer until the NAB completes inspection of project records before crying foul.  Opining about anything at this point would be too haphazard.

If you have invested in the project, I suggest you adopt a wait-and-see policy for now, and rest assured, we will update you as soon as any further information becomes available to us.