CDA planning municipal bonds to generate more income: Chairman

ISLAMABAD (February 11, 2011) : The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is planning to launch municipal bonds and initiate a number of joint venturers with private sectors aimed at generating regular income and putting the financial matters of the civic body on strong footings, Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi said on Thursday.

“We are launching municipal bonds and a number of other projects in collaboration with the private sector to devise a proper mechanism of generating regular income instead of selling land, for which necessary work is underway,” he said in an interview with this news agency.

He said that the authority had adopted several steps to curtail non-developmental expenditure to steer it out of the financial crunch and “it had not bought even a single vehicle for quite some time.” Commenting on land grabbing issue, he said that the CDA had formed a tri-party co-ordination committee consisting of the CDA representatives, Islamabad Capital Territory administration and police to monitor the development regarding vacation and recovery of land from adverse possession.

“Around 300 kanals of land has so far been vacated in Malpur area in addition to vast stretches of land in other areas of the Capital,” he added. Imtiaz Elahi said that the authority had acquired land for various development projects in 1960s for which possession was being taken on need-basis but with the passage of time people started encroaching the land and constructing buildings.

“A comprehensive strategy in this regard has been prepared to get the remaining land vacated from adverse possession,” he said adding that the CDA was bolstering its Enforcement Directorate to execute its operations. He said following the directives of the Supreme Court, the CDA would hopefully succeed in getting around 20,000 acres of land from the adverse possession in one year.

In reply to a question about provision of recreational activities to residents of the capital, he said around 178 parks and 34 play grounds were available for the purpose, while a policy was being pursued to turn the open places into small parks, wherever identified.

Besides, a cinema facility would be provided to citizens so that they could enjoy quality movies in the Capital instead of going to Rawalpindi, he said. The civic body, he said had also approved a project to run tourist buses for different recreational places of the Capital including Shakarparian, Rawal Dam, Super Market, Jinnah Super, Said Pur Village, Zoo and Faisal Mosque.

It had also planned to ply 30 buses on Faizabad-Islamabad route for ensuring cheap and respectable journey to commuters, shuttling between Faizabad and different sectors of the Federal Capital, the chairman said. The service will hopefully be launched within three months for which a bus stand is being established at Faizabad – the main junction between the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.