ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has canceled the lease of the plot for the One Constitution Avenue Project due to default.
According to sources, the CDA had issued a “lease termination notice” to the BNP Group, which owns the project, last month after it failed to deposit Rs. 3 billion installments in line with the directives of the Supreme Court.
The notice was served for initiation of the termination of the lease in line with the 2019 Supreme Court order after the developer did not comply with the court verdict.
The details suggest that the group was advised “to remit an installment due for 2022, amounting to Rs. 2.91 billion on or before December 31, 2022” but the installment was not deposited.
Recently, the Public Accounts Committee directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate the non-payment of Rs. 17 billion by the group.
Since the auction of the plot in 2005, the project has been mired in controversies, and CDA auctioned the 13.5 acres for Rs. 4.8 billion.
As per the details, the project was meant for the construction of a hotel, but the developer had built and sold residential apartments instead.
The project was subsequently de-sealed in 2021 after almost five years following a 2019 judgment by a three-member Supreme Court bench headed by then Chief Justice Saqib Nisar.
The developer was supposed to deposit Rs17.5 billion in installments over eight years, but after paying the first installment, he did not pay the second one which was due on December 31 last year.
Moreover, CDA, after issuing a termination notice, canceled the lease.
Besides, the developer of the project, Hafeez Pasha, said he had no knowledge of the lease cancellation, and he and CDA had filed review petitions in the Supreme Court against the verdict.
