ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is all
set to allot over 1,000 acres of land to the army for the construction
of a general headquarters (GHQ) and other military offices in Islamabad.
The
army had shelved its plan of moving the GHQ from Rawalpindi to
Islamabad in 2008-09 due to financial constraints and on the
instructions of the then army chief, Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani.
It
now wants possession of the land at the earliest so construction work
can be started and the army headquarters can be moved to the federal
capital.
Plan to move GHQ from Rawalpindi to Islamabad was shelved in 2008-09 due to financial constraints
A high level meeting was held on Dec 19 at the CDA
headquarters in which several key decisions regarding the handing over
of land to the army were taken. The meeting was chaired by Member Estate
Khushal Khan and was attended by concerned CDA officers and army
officers of Defence Complex Islamabad (DCI).
CDA
officials told Dawn that issues regarding an office complex, which will
be constructed on 138 acres, were discussed in detail.
The
meeting was informed that a formal allotment letter has not been issued
due to an outstanding annual ground rent of Rs84 million.
It
was decided that the ground rent will be waived off as it was the CDA’s
fault to not hand over possession of the land to the army for the
construction of offices, a CDA official told Dawn.
He
said a decision regarding 293 acres of land in D-11 was also taken and
the CDA will now be issuing an allotment letter for this land in a week
as possession of the land has already been handed over to the army.
The
meeting was told that 870 acres of land in Zone III of the capital to
the north of E-10 and D-11 was allotted to the DCI for the construction
of an office complex for the GHQ, Joint Staff Head Quarters, Ministry of
Defence (MoD) and DCI. The area of the office complex has now been
reduced to 694.56 acres and an allotment letter for this land will be
issued once the army pays off delayed charges amounting to about Rs225
million.
The resettlement of locals of the area was also
discussed and the meeting was told that a summary in this regard has
been submitted to the CDA board in which the allocation of a new sector
has been proposed as H-16 will not be enough to accommodate them. All
the decisions taken during the meeting will be implemented soon, the
official said.
Talking to Dawn, CDA Member Estate Khushal
Khan said almost all the issues between the CDA and the army were
resolved during the meeting and that the civic agency will be issuing
allotment letters of the land soon.
Asked about the
annual ground rent, he explained that since the CDA did not hand over
possession of the 138 acres of land for the office complex, there was no
reason to charge the amount.
He said the army has been
cooperating with the civic agency and have also paid back a large
proportion of the amount for the land they will get from the CDA.
He
said that according to the master plan, H-16 is reserved for
institutions and will therefore be insufficient for accommodating those
affected by the project in the area and that the CDA may acquire more
land for developing more sectors.
“We are planning on acquiring land in H-17 and I-16 etc,” he said.
Demarcation of military land
According
to CDA officials, the MoD has through an official letter, sought
information from the CDA regarding the demarcation of military grass
farm land in the Margalla Hills.
They said the military wanted a proper demarcation of the land so they could get complete control of it.
“I
cannot recall the exact issue at the moment, but yes, the army does
have land in the Margalla Hills,” Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz
said.
He added that he will be in a better position to comment on the demarcation process after reading the MoD letter.
The MoD letter asks for the information to be “provided without any further delay”.
