The National Assembly Standing Committee on Government Assurances Friday termed the levy of “exaggerated” development charges on allottees in underdeveloped sectors of Islamabad by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) unjustified, and constituted a sub-committee to examine the issue.
The committee, which met at the Parliament House under the chairperson, Nuzhat Sadiq, MNA, took serious notice of the imposition of development charges without completion of development work or timely handover of possession, particularly in Sector E-12.
Members observed that CDA had failed to adhere to its development schedule and could not penalise allottees for its own delays and negligence.
The committee also decided to convey its displeasure to the CDA chairman for his continued absence from committee meetings.
A sub-committee, headed by Raja Qamar ul Islam, MNA, was formed to look into the matter and report back to the committee.
While discussing the implementation of an assurance regarding delays in operationalising sewerage pipelines in Bani Gala, Islamabad, the committee directed that the scheme be made functional at the earliest and extended to cover other areas of Bani Gala.
The additional deputy commissioner, ICT, informed the committee that a PC-1 would be submitted to the competent forum within one month for approval.
The director general of CDA told the committee that development charges were borne by allottees due to escalation in development costs, adding that issues raised by the committee in its previous meeting had been placed before the CDA Board, though a decision was still awaited.
The committee also reviewed the implementation status of an assurance given by the minister for communications regarding exorbitant prices charged by vendors at motorway service areas.
It directed the National Highways Authority (NHA) to strictly monitor prices of commodities and services on motorways across the country.
NHA officials informed the committee that, following the award of a concessional contract for the M-2 motorway, matters relating to maintenance, licensing and contractual arrangements fell under the purview of the concessionaire.
They added that price fixation was the responsibility of district administrations, though both the concessionaire and NHA regularly inspected service quality and pricing.
The committee disposed of the assurance.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Raja Qamar ul Islam, Muneeba Iqbal, Natasha Daultana, Syed Javed Ali Shah Jillani, Shahida Rehmani, Hameed Hussain and Aasia Ishaque Siddiqui, while Sofia Saeed Shah participated via Zoom. Movers Asiya Naz Tanoli, Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto and Zahra Wadood Fatemi, along with secretaries of relevant ministries and senior officials of concerned departments, were also present.