CDA mulls hike in land prices
By Bushra Rafique

ISLAMABAD—The Capital Development Authority (CDA) isconsidering increasing the rate of its land in capital to be provided to government institutions, the authority’s Member Finance Kamran Qureshi said Saturday.
The official said the matter was discussed at a CDA board meeting.
However, the meeting decided to refer the case to the interior ministry for approval. Qureshi said the land rate provided to government institutions was revised in 2001 to Rs4,500 per sq yard. However; for the private sector the cost of commercial land in Islamabad has gone up to Rs200,000 per sq yard.
The official said in view of increasing development cost and inflating plot rates in Islamabad, the CDA decided to increase the land rate for government institutions. The CDA had recently provided 150 canals of land to Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF) for establishing a golf course at Shakarparian at Rs41 per sq yard.
In the instance of a cricket stadium near Sports Complex, the authority had allocated 30 acres of land, the market price of which is stated to be Rs330mn, at the rate of Rs2,250 per sq yard. However, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) demanded it should be sold at cost Rs8.7mn at the rate of Rs60 per sq yard.
The CDA was of the view that the rate of Rs2,250 per sq yard was already lower than the rate of commercial land anywhere in Islamabad. The record bid for a commercial plot in Islamabad was Rs225,000 per sq yard set at an auction.
The CDA pointed out that the PCB was a highly profitable organisation and should pay the price of land to be used solely for commercial purpose.
Qureshi said the CDA was also considering enhancing its property and municipal tax collection net by bringing model villages and different other areas under the tax net. "This decision would be implemented under the master plan for Islamabad being revised these days," he added.
It was also decided at the meeting that the CDA would start work on three new projects next month — the underpass at Khushal Khan Road, the conversion of existing northern carriageway into a car park area and the widening of the existing Daman-e-Koh Road.
The authority has approved the project concept (PC-I) for the three projects, which would cost Rs658mn. An underpass on 7th Avenue to link sectors G-6 and G-7 will cost Rs434mn, the conversion of northern carriageway into a car park area will cost Rs154mn and the widening of the Daman-e-Koh Road requires Rs70mn.
Work on the underpass will start on October 1 and would be completed by February end next year. The construction of Northern Carriageway into car park area and construction of a new Southern Carriageway will be undertaken in line with the revised master plan for the capital city.
The master plan envisages using some portions of wide green belts in the city for road expansion to accommodate increasing traffic load. The authority will fix sign boards at different sectors for public convenience and for publicity purposes to earn an income from private firms interested in making use of the facility.