Malpractices resulting in downfall of civic agency:Shahid Rasheed Butt

Lahore: A business leader of Islamabad Shahid Rasheed Butt said that complicated policies and procedures, bureaucratic inertia and slow pace of development work has forced masses, developers and investors to turned their back on the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

The last few auctions have failed to attract expected amount realising which the civic agency has decided to attract investors from other cities and the overseas Pakistanis, said Shahid Rasheed Butt, Patron Chamber of Small Traders Islamabad.

He said that few decades back most of the people preferred the CDA sectors and there was a general perception that investing in the private housing societies was a risk but now the situation has changed due to rampant mismanagement in the agency.

Some private housing societies are famous for delayed their projects and even depriving the plot seekers of their lifetime savings but now the CDA is doing it.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that the CDA failed to fulfil its promises regarding the development of various sectors due to which the citizens lost trust in the civic agency.

Moreover, those who still make mistake to buy plots are left high and dry, he said, adding that those who have bought commercial plots worth billions are being forced to pay hefty bribes at every step. Nothing moves in the CDA as per the rules and only thing that can move officials is underhand payments running in tens of millions, he added. The civic agency was itself responsible for the current situation as the lower staff and management created hurdles in the way of investors and genuine buyers for personal benefits. They officials openly demanded bribe from allotment of plots, soil testing, approval of maps, construction work, issuance of completion certificate and all other services.