ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) appears to be in real mess after failing to complete development work in sectors D-13, D-12 and E-12.

D-13 sector

Two officials, a director-general (DG) and a former member of the board, responding to a petition filed by Syed Asad Kazmi, have even appeared in court, regarding the sector’s development work.

The officials conveyed to the Islamabad High Court on June 27, 2012 that the ‘layout plan’ of sector D-13 was complete.

However, according to CDA insiders the statements made by the officials in court were incorrect.

“Presently the officials who appeared in court don’t have an official portfolio in CDA and secondly there is no layout plan of sector D-13 available in any of the departments of the authority,” the spokesman for CDA Ramzan Sajid told Dawn on Wednesday.

However, the Islamabad High Court according to the spokesman had directed the chairman CDA Syed Tahir Shahbaz and a few board members to appear in person on Thursday morning and clarify its (CDA) position.

According to details shared by an administration department official of the CDA, the legal counsel for the authority in September 2012 conveyed to the court, after consulting director-general planning, that the layout plan of sector D-13 would be completed within a period of three months.

“The work never started in sector D-13, besides we are yet to settle a number of issues related to land compensation which takes years,” claimed the official, not willing to share his name.

D-12 sector

“CDA has not completed work on sector D-12, how could the authority start sector D-13’s development work? Besides there is shortage of funds and presently CDA has no alternative business plans,” insisted the official.

E-12 sector

Another official of the land directorate maintained: “CDA have also not started work on sector E-12”.

The official said sector E-12 project was launched in the 1970s to provide around 5,000 housing units.

However, nearly 30 years later “the authority does not possess the land in sector E-12,” said a senior official of the authority, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The CDA could not agree to the compensation with the original land owners till date.

An official of the legal wing said that similar commitment was shown by CDA’s management last year to the Supreme Court in which the former additional secretary of the federal government, Nayyar Manzoor, requested the court to ensure allotment of his plot which he had failed to get even after two decades.

Mr Manzoor, 75, was allotted a 500 sq yd plot in 1992 by the CDA and paid all the installments but could not get any piece of land in sector E-12.

The official said the CDA was in the habit of making such commitments to the court and never bothered to address the pains of citizens like Mr Manzoor, who had spent all their money after retirement on a dream house in the city.