What will become of Bahria Town Lahore’s Sector F?

Bahria Town Lahore’s Sector F controversy continues to deteriorate the developer’s repute and frustrate investors. To most people, this project appears to be clouded in mystery. This is why we did a little digging to figure out what the situation is like today and what we can expect in the future. Read on to find out more.

What is the controversy?

At the crux of the matter is the fact that Sector F has not been approved by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and the Town Municipal Administration (TMA) of Iqbal Town because Bahria has not acquired land for it. As soon as it was launched in 2012, LDA declared the particular project ‘illegal’ and warned buyers, via newspapers, that investing here would be entirely at their own discretion. Seemingly, investors didn’t take the advice and went ahead with purchasing Sector F files.

The continuous campaign against this particular sector brought the rate of files down and Bahria Town dealers purchased these files at less than the market rate. When launched, this sector featured 10.66-marla and 1-kanal residential plot files at the market rate of PKR 3,200,000 and PKR 6,400,000 respectively. Five-marla files were launched later. These files were offered on two-year instalment plan. However, due to the lack of investors’ interest, their value dropped drastically.

After realising that the LDA campaign against Sector F seemed valid, some angry investors decided to stop paying the remaining instalments. According to Bahria Town’s terms and conditions, file owner are charged heavily for delayed instalment payments. However, in this case, no fines have yet been imposed.

Latest developments

The affectees of Sector F are looking for avenues to seek information about how the Bahria Town management intends to deal with the problem. We have done some research in this regard.

As per the latest details, Ghaznavi Block, Tipu Block, Sikandar Block, and Shershah Block of Sector F have been balloted. Furthermore, their maps are also available. Bahria Town has acquired 100% of the land for Tipu Block and Ghaznavi Block, while the land acquisition for Sikandar Block and Shershah Block is 85% and 75% complete, respectively.

No land has been acquired for three blocks – Alamgir, Abu Bakar and Sheikh Saadi – yet but all their files have been sold. There is a chance that these blocks might fail to find their place on the map, or take too long to appear, making this investment too much of a hassle.

According to sources, the development in Ghaznavi Block is in its advanced stages and property possession is available. The lucky folks who got successful during the balloting and ended up with plots in Ghazni and Tipu should know that their 10.66-marla (35 x 70) and 1-kanal (50 x 90) plots today are worth PKR 5,750,000 and PKR 8,250,000 on average.

A big chunk of land that was supposed to be acquired for Sector F belongs to New Lahore City. The management of New Lahore City, also in the process of acquiring land, isn’t willing to sell to Bahria, even at a higher than market rate. Moreover, owners of the neighbouring agricultural land are also quoting higher prices for their lots, making it difficult for Bahria Town to move forward with its development plans.

With all this in mind, it looks like Bahria will keep quiet about Sector F for a while, at least until owners of the agricultural land around the sector are willing to sell.

What will happen next?

The chances of whether Bahria Town acquires the remaining land in its other blocks or not are 50-50 as of now. If it doesn’t, Sector F will only consist of four blocks.

It is commonly known that Bahria’s management always compensates investors, so this should calm the victims. Estate agents operating in Bahria Town are of the view that when developed, this sector will become the prettiest and most posh sector of Bahria Town Lahore. Plot owners who think waiting for an uncertain period of time isn’t worth it can ask for compensation.

Compensation could be in the form of alternate plots offered in other Bahria projects of Lahore, such as Bahria Education and Medical City, Bahria Nasheman and Bahria Orchard, or a refund of the paid amount with a 20% deduction.

That’s all for now. If you have anything to add, please use the comment section below.