New list of illegal housing schemes being prepared

Islamabad : The local administration has started a survey to identity those private housing societies that are operating without obtaining No Objection Certificate (NOC) in the capital.

According to the details, the Revenue and Field Officers would review the record and prepare a fresh list of the private housing societies that are illegally operating without getting permission from the relevant authorities. The civic authority in July 2021 declared 140 private and cooperative housing schemes in the federal capital territory as illegal and unauthorised as they lacked approval due to non-submission of layout plans and NOC.

The 2-tier approval for private housing schemes are granted including issuance of NOC and approval after submission of layout plan. The registration process includes 19 major steps and 29 intermediate steps. It takes on average two-and-a-half years for the NOC to be approved by the civic agency. Once the NOC is approved, the development work can take as much as two decades to conclude. The government has not launched any new residential sector in last many decades due to which the private sector was encouraged to enter the housing market to cater to rising housing demand in Islamabad.

An official has informed that when this list would be prepared the illegal housing societies would be immediately directed to stop development work to avoid legal action. “We will not allow illegal housing societies to carry out development work because they cannot do it without obtaining NOC from the district administration,” he said.

He said “We have already developed a mechanism that helps the people review the legal status of the housing society before buying any plot or property. Now new survey is also part of the efforts aiming at ensuring protection of investment in the private housing societies.”