The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has directed concrete regulatory action to address the widespread illegal conversion of parks, open spaces and other designated public-use land into residential and commercial plots in private housing schemes, according to an official CDA document.
The directives were issued during a meeting convened to resolve long-standing violations affecting public interest and third-party rights. According to the CDA document, a large number of housing sponsors unlawfully converted land reserved for public facilities and open spaces into saleable plots and allotted them to the public, resulting in bona fide third-party ownership.
The document acknowledges that the absence of CDA building control in private housing schemes prior to 2018 facilitated these violations, which were later curtailed following intervention by the Islamabad High Court.
The document states that as existing regulations do not allow compounding of such violations, CDA has directed that housing sponsors must either retrieve and restore the illegally converted sites or compensate affected allottees and provide alternate land for public-use purposes within specified radii.
The authority has also directed that sponsors may be required to provide land of equivalent value or pay penalties calculated on the basis of FBR-notified rates. According to the document, CDA has further directed that the overall size of affected housing schemes be recalculated where excessive saleable land was created through illegal conversions, along with the imposition of penalties.
These directives and related regulatory measures will be placed before the CDA Board for necessary amendments and subsequent approval from the federal government.
