Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A Design Vetting Committee (DVC) of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has regretted the management of Centaurus to consider its office block as a five star hotel.

Earlier, the owner of the said mall approached the CDA for conversion of its Block-C into a five star hotel, which was originally meant for offices only.

A meeting of the DVC was held here in the headquarters of the civic body on Monday under the chair of Member Planning and Design, Asad Mehboob Kiani, while Director Building Control Section, Director Structure, Director Urban Planning and consultants of the CDA also attended the meeting.

The management of the Centaurus Mall presented its case before the committee and asked to consider its office tower into a five star hotel.

A team comprising over a half dozen architects argued that due to the ongoing operation against the non-conforming use, the demand for hotel accommodations had increased manifold so that’s why we want to convert our block-C into a hotel.

They requested the CDA to consider their Block-C as a five star hotel at this stage while they will also construct their block-D on latter stages and will include it with the project

However, a strong but unusual reaction from the civic body appeared. The CDA officials asked the architects representing Centaurus that without the construction of their block-D, the project was incomplete and the management of the mega mall was liable to pay the delay in construction charges. It was also questioned by the CDA as to how is it possible that we allow the conversion of a block originally meant for offices into a five star hotel.

It was directed to the architects of the shopping mall to come again with full drawing of block-D and regretted to consider their demand.

Sources briefed that some influential persons in the Prime Minister’s Office were behind the case and they want a favour for the mega mall, which cannot be covered in the legal framework.

An officer of the CDA commented on the condition of anonymity that nobody was willing to go to jail after making such an illegal decision. On the other side sources claimed that one of the core reason behind the lease cancellation of Grand Hayat Hotel was the delay in the construction of the hotel building and after the said cancellation, the owner of Centaurus Mall was also in hot waters and under threat due to non-construction of the hotel building.

The civic body had cancelled the lease agreement of Grand Hayat Hotel in July 2016 on multiple reasons including non-construction of a five star hotel on the site and just few days before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had also dismissed the petitions of Grand Hayat and apartment owners filed against the said decision of the CDA.

Relevant circles are considering the fresh decision of IHC as a ruling against the elitist-of-the-elite. The decisions like ‘no to Centaurus’ would create a sense of fear among others, who are violating the rules and regulations since the establishment of the CDA and it would also maintain the writ of civic body in the city. When contacted, the Member Planning Asad Mehboob Kiani said: “We have asked the builders to come again with full presentation as we cannot consider it partially.”

We are here to facilitate the business community in the development of the city, but we cannot regularise anything which is beyond the rules and regulations,” he added.