DIRECTS NHA FOR STRICT MONITORING OF PRICES OF COMMODITIES AND SERVICES ON MOTORWAYS
Islamabad: National Assembly Standing Committee on Government Assurances National Assembly Standing Committee on Government Assurances taking serious note of the levy of developmental charges on allottees in residential housing schemes of CDA without completion of the development work has termed it unjustified. The Committee also decided to convey its displeasure to Chairman CDA for his continued absence from the meetings. The Committee met under the Chairpersonship of Nuzhat Sadiq, MNA in Parliament House, this afternoon.
The Committee while discussing assurance given by Minister for Interior regarding levy of charges on pretext of developmental charges in Sector E-12 observed that the levy of charges was unjustified since CDA had not followed the development schedule and had not given possession to the allottees in time. The Mover apprised the Committee that CDA was behind schedule in E-12 and other sectors presently being developed and it was unjustified to penalize allottees for the negligence of CDA. The Committee taking serious note of the issue, appointed a Sub-Committee under Convenership of Raja Qamar ul Islam, MNA to look into the issue.
The Committee while discussing implementation of assurance on delay in operationalizing of sewerage pipelines in Bani Gala, Islamabad directed to operationalize the scheme and include other areas of Bani Gala for bringing them into the sewerage waste disposal system. The Additional Deputy Commissioner ICT assured the committee that PC-1 in that regard would be submitted to the competent forum for approval within one month.
The Director General CDA apprised the Committee that the allottees of any housing scheme had to bear the development charges due to escalation in development cost. He informed that issues raised by the August Committee in its previous meeting had been submitted to CDA board, however the decision was awaited.
The Committee while discussing implementation status of assurance given by Minister of Communications regarding charging of exorbitant prices on food items by vendors on motorways directed National Highways Authority (NHA) to keep check on prices of commodities and services on Motorways through out the country. The Committee disposed of the Assurance.
The NHA officials apprised the committee that due to award of concessional contract of M2, the matters pertaining to the maintenance of further licensing and other contractual arrangements fall within the purview of Concessionaire. The officials further informed that fixations of price falls in the domain of district administrations however the Concessionaire and the NHA regularly inspects and reports quality of services and prices.
The meeting was attended by, MNAs; Raja Qamar Ul Islam, Muneeba Iqbal, Natasha Daultana, Syed Javed Ali Shah Jillani, Shahida Rehmani, Hameed Hussain, Aasia Ishaque Siddiqui, through Zoom,. Sofia Saeed Shah, through Zoom, Movers; . Asiya Naz Tanoli, Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Secretaries of the concerned Ministries and senior officials of the concerned departments.
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
