ISLAMABAD: Due to corruption, mismanagement, relaxation of rules and apathy on the part of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) two of the cinemas which were built on the three amenity plots allotted for building cinemas have been abandoned while the purpose of the third has been changed to be used as a commercial plaza.

According to a CDA official, the civic agency had in the late 60s allocated three plots at throwaway prices for the construction of cinema houses so that citizens of the federal capital have access to affordable entertainment. He said these plots were only meant for running cinemas.

The first of the three cinemas was built in the Melody Market in 1966 and was immensely welcomed by the public. In 1974, the government-owned and now defunct National Film Development Corporation (Nafdec) was set up with its two movie halls, the Nafdec I and II, in Blue Area, F-6 and the third cinema in the G-7 Sitara Market.

Buildings of two cinemas not being used, commercial plaza being built on plot for the third

The Melody Cinema was burnt down on October 7, 2003 during protests against the killing of Azam Tariq, who was the head of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba, and has since been abandoned. Along the same time, the cinema business was experiencing a low and so the Kohsar Cinema was also closed down.

Meanwhile during Musharraf’s tenure, Nafdec’s buildings were sold via a privatisation commission to a businessman, who was later permitted by the CDA to change the purpose of the land’s use and the civic agency ‘allowed’ him to develop a 16-storey shopping mall on the said plot.

“There are rumours that the new owner of Nafdec’s buildings paid bribes to government and CDA officials in order to be allowed to use the land for another purpose. I am not sure but I think the lease for the Nafdec plot has also expired. Let me check the files after the Eid holidays,” a senior CDA official who requested not to be named said.

The Melody and Kohsar cinemas have also been defunct for a long time and the lease of both plot could be cancelled for not using the amenities plots for running a cinema, the officer said.

Another CDA official said the civic authority should encourage owners of cinema houses to re-launch the cinemas and that because of many Hollywood and Bollywood releases, the cinema business was booming again.

“If owners of the cinema houses do not want to operate a cinema on the amenities plots they were allotted, the allotments should be cancelled and given to other parties,” he said. The CDA officials said that another commercial plaza near the Nafdec building, the Beverly Centre was also meant to be a movie house and that the plot’s land use was later changed by the CDA to that of ‘commercial property’.

When asked, CDA Building Control Director Shafi Marwat said the plots allotted for cinemas were only meant to be used for a cinema to provide affordable entertainment to the residents of the city.

Interestingly, the owners of both cinemas are running various other businesses such as shops and hotels, but are somehow reluctant to reopen the doors to their cinemas and provide lower income families good, affordable entertainment.

Meanwhile, talking to Dawn, the newly appointed CDA chairman, Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Ansar Aziz, who also runs the Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad, said the plots allotted for cinema houses should only be used for running a cinema.

“We will see to it that cinemas are opened on these plots and if not, their leases will be cancelled,” the CDA chairman vowed, recalling that the movie houses in question were a source of good entertainment back in the day.

“After the Eid holidays, I will check the records of the lease agreements of all three cinemas,” he said.

However, all of this has meant that lower income families cannot really enjoy a movie at the cinema as the two private ones in the federal capital charge about Rs500 for a 2D movie while tickets for a 3D movie is sold for between Rs800 and Rs900 each.

Published in Dawn September 13th, 2016