Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) Board on Friday approved its Rs 5.83 billion deficit budget estimates for year 2017-18. The proposed expenditures for the next financial year are Rs 37.97 billion, while expected receipts are only Rs 32.14 billion.

The board approved the budget in its meeting held at the CDA headquarters. After approval from the CDA Board, budget estimates will be submitted before the federal government for final approval.

The expected revenue of Rs 32.14 billion for year 2017-18 includes Rs 9,500 million from new auctions of commercial plots and Rs 8,907 million through recovery from previous auctions. The authority is also expecting an amount of Rs 4,000 million from opening of new sectors and Rs 1,000 by auction of residential plots in developed sectors.

The budget estimates indicate 3 percent increase in the proposed spending for 2017-18 as compared to the previous year’s budget. Last year, the total outlay was Rs 36.817 billion. This year it is Rs 37.971 billion.

A 44 percent of the total budget will be spent on non-development expenditures, including an amount of Rs 5,999.6 million for the non-development spending of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad as a loan.

The civic body has allocated 56 percent of the total budget for development projects, including Rs 11,100 million for priority development projects. The priority projects approved in the budget 2017-18 includes construction of Bhara Kahu Bypass, development of sectors E-12, C-15 & I-15, construction of interchanges at Sohan and Khanna on Islamabad Expressway, dualisation of Attaturk Avenue (Embassy Road), construction of an underpass on Faisal Avenue, construction of Khayaban-e-Margalla from GT Road to D-12 and rehabilitation of IJP Road.

However, officials said that the budget did not contain anything new for the citizens of Islamabad. “The funds allocated for opening new sectors are inadequate. The budget is once again auction centric,” the officials said.

The budget document proposed several measures to enhance revenue generation including imposition of building control fee on 50 private housing schemes, transfer fee from high rise buildings, rationalisation of property tax, renewal of expired leases and revision of the receipts of Directorate of Municipal Administration.

“We don’t need new proposals. What we need is implementation. The civic body has failed to find out even a single sustainable source of revenue. It’s only strategy has so far been to sell plots to run its affairs”, a CDA official said.

Meanwhile, the CDA Board also approved a summary to restrict issuance of no objection certificates (NOCs) to housing societies situated on narrow roads that lacked at least 60 feet wide road access to the main road.

The summary further categorised the road access requirements according to the area of housing societies. The housing societies with an area between 400 to 600 kanals will need 60 feet wide road access. Societies having 600 to 1,000 kanals area will require 80 feet wide road access.

Furthermore, it will be mandatory for housing societies above 1,000 kanals to provide 100 feet wide road access to its residents.

The CDA Board deferred another important summary purposing increase in the covered area in agriculture farms from 4,850 square feet to 10,000 square feet. Another summary regarding the price determination for a plot of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) was deferred.