Hyderabad: In a case filed by Association of Builders and Development (ABAD) Hyderabad region, Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) has been ordered by Sindh High Court (SHC) to charge the External Development Charges (EDC) at the old rate, according to news sources.
The court has barred the HDA to collect the renewed amount of EDC of PKR 1,450 per square yard of a covered area in the housing scheme for the external development of infrastructure of a residential housing scheme. The old amount of PKR 250 per square yard of the covered area in a housing society will be charged until HDA can convince the court otherwise in next hearing.
The EDC of PKR 250 per square yard is being charged for over 9 years now and there has not been any sort of increase in this amount. On 14th November 2019 during 118th meeting of the governing body of HDA, a resolution was passed which amended the rates against various services provided by HDA.
Changes in fee of different services were made. Some of the services that underwent changes in fee structure included scrutiny fee for layout was changed from PKR 6000 to PKR 15000, NOC fee for layout was increased from PKR 20,000 to PKR 50,000. Demarcation charges rose to PKR 12,500 from PKR 5000 while betterment fee that HDA calculated from builders constructing a commercial building increased from PKR 55,000 to PKR 137,500.
The Association of Builders and Development (ABAD) maintained that the EDC rate per square yard has been increased six folds and without consulting the stakeholders. They further added in their petition that the funds gathered from builders were seldom used for development projects.
To defend the rise in the cost per square yard, the Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) has to convince the court and justify the sudden hike until the next hearing that is on May 27.
Hazafa reveres the art of writing and has been turned into a property enthusiast by profession. Her daily survival kit includes; tea, coffee, keyboard and paperbacks.
