CDA to develop 7,000 acres for new residential sectors
By Hina Kiyani

ISLAMABAD—The Capital Development Authority will develop 7,000 acres of land in the urban belt of the capital for opening new residential sectors, a CDA official said Tuesday.
As many as 65,000 new residential plots would be available by 2008 as a result of the development process, he said.
The process to acquire land was initiated last year and it isbeing reared up after the approval of a land-sharing formula by an inter-ministerial committee last week for land acquisition.
"The formula does not involve any cash deal in land acquisition, which will help avoid any post-agreement disputes between the Authority and land owners," the official said. The formula had been devised on the pattern of Defence Housing Authority's experience of acquiring land and its uniform application would benefit the land owners, he said.
Each land owner will be allotted 25 per cent of the land acquired from him after fully developing it. The owner will pay only the development charges for the allotted portion.
Development work is currently underway in three new sectors i.e. I-14, I-15 and I-16, to provide a total of 28,000 new housing units. Similar work is in progress in sectors D-12 and E-12 where a total of 7,000 housing units would be built.
Six other sectors in the pipeline are D-13, E-13, E-12, F-12, G-12 and G-13. These sectors will be developed by 2008 and will contribute significantly to overcoming the housing shortage in the capital city, the official said.
Islamabad faces a shortage of 40,000 housing units. The existing number of houses here is 70,000 while a total of 110,000 housing units are required in the capital city.
The capital now has 18 fully functional sectors spread over 12,000 acres of urban land, with 32,117 housing units.