MIANWALI: A compulsory land acquisition award notification has been issued in connection with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for nine revenue estates in Mianwali tehsil. This ends speculation about the corridor’s route, which had remained a mystery for some time. A similar notification is expected for land in Isakhel tehsil.

When the corridor was announced last year, the route it would take had become the centre of a hot debate. Yet the government had remained silent on the subject until the recent notification outlined the inclusion of Mianwali district in the corridor.

It appears as if some powerful people, with the right connections, had an idea about the CPEC route as several business tycoons had been purchasing land in the designated estates for a few months.

MPA Dr Salahudin Khan (PP-44) told Dawn that Package-3 of the CPEC ran in his constituency yet the National Highways Authority had never shared the details with him. He confirmed that land transactions had occurred at a large-scale over the last few months and that the secrecy around it was to benefit the buyers.

Business tycoons lured people into selling their land prior to issuance of acquisition notification

Those who had sold land in the area prior to the notification said they had been lured into selling land at market or slightly higher rates. The announcement of the route this week shot up prices overnight. Several residents of the district shared how they had viewed the land deals with suspicion but had no idea that it would be a part of the CPEC route.

The buyers include auto-industry owners, a business tycoon who has recently entered the real estate world and a member of the ruling family.

“We feel robbed of our valuable land by tricksy businessmen,” one of the land sellers said.

Prior to the notification, thousands of kanals of barani land in Massan mauza had been traded. A company named SAS Co had bought 6,000 kanals, Khalid Nadeem of Rawalpindi had bought 1,300 kanals and Haji Sikandar 600 kanals of land.

Two transactions dated May 30, 2015, showed that Arjuman Leghari, wife of Sardar Awais Leghari, had bought two tracts of 424 kanals and 422 kanals in Massan under land transfer deed numbers 230 and 244.

Another shock, according to land owners whose land is to be acquired for the corridor, is that they are being offered peanuts compared to the actual price of the land to be acquired.

Haji Sher Khan, one of the land owners facing compulsory land acquisition, said the award price had been assessed on the basis of the average price in the last five years. He said the price documented by the government was less than the actual value of the land in the area.

He added that it was a norm that the parties in land transactions would show a lesser sale price in mutations to evade taxes levied on such transactions.

MPA Dr Khan says landowners have also approached him complaining about the low prices and discrimination in land value assessment. He demanded an interchange at Dhok Bartal, saying it would give the corridor access to the proposed Kalabagh dam site and Khushab and Chakwal districts.

Land acquisition process

Mianwali Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Hussain Rana will oversee the land acquisition process. He told Dawn that a 96-kilometre portion of the CPEC route, comprising Package 2 and 3, would pass through Mianwali and Isakhel tehsils. Package 2 includes 51km of the route in Isakhel tehsil and Package 3, 45km in Mianwali tehsil.

The route under Package 3 passes through nine villages in Mianwali tehsil — Massan, Bani Afghan, Peer Pehai, Nikki, Daudkhel, Paki Shah Mardan, Thathi, Dher Umaid Ali Shah and Paikhel Kacha.

Mr Rana explained that the federal government, through the National Highways Authority, had required the District Land Acquisition Authority to acquire the earmarked land.

The district land acquisition collector notified the area under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 which binds landowners not to alienate the notified lands.

In pursuance of the process, the district land collector made a District Price Assessment Committee, which had forwarded the assessed price figures to the Punjab Board of Revenue (BoR). The BoR finalised the price which has been conveyed to the landowners through a public announcement.

He added that the awarded price in each village ranged from Rs2,500 to Rs160,000 per kanal. The land acquired for the CPEC route in Mianwali tehsil was 7,879 kanals, while the process in Isakhel tehsil was under way.

He said the process of land acquisition was transparent.

Misgivings

Haq Nawaz, of Dher Umaid Ali Shah, is worried about the consequences his village will face because of the corridor. He told Dawn his village was in a low-lying area that would now be inundated with rainwater every year.

He said the Thal Canal ran along the eastern side of the village, while the CPEC route had been planned along the western side. After the corridor is built, he said, the village would become a lake in the rainy season. He said the corridor authorities would have to arrange for drainage of rainwater.

Yet there are others like, advocate Sardar Khan Niazi, who call the CPEC’s passage from the district a blessing.

Published in Dawn November 10th, 2016