By Asad Cheema
ISLAMABAD: President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Muhammad Ahmed Waheed has said that the federal government has provided incentives to construction industry through a Presidential Ordinance, but the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has neither taken any steps to revise its construction policy nor developed new SOPs for construction activities.
Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that it is the need of the hour that CDA should revise its building byelaws in consonance with Ordinance for Construction Industry and develop new SOPs so that construction and business activities could flourish in the federal capital.
He said that about 5 years ago, CDA Board had approved revised industrial building byelaws which allowed multi businesses on industrial plots, but CDA has not issued their notification as yet due to which industrial growth in Islamabad was stagnant. He said that LDA and other authorities have developed new SOPs for construction activities in light of Construction Industry Ordinance, but CDA has not made any progress to this effect as yet.
The ICCI President said that CDA in principal had allowed construction of additional storey in markets, but its procedure was made so complicated that it was not possible to construct additional storey in markets. He said that after depositing building map for construction, one has to wait for 2-3 years for its approval due to which development of the federal capital was very slow. He said that due to such difficult procedures, domestic and foreign investors were feeling no incentive to invest in construction projects in the federal capital.
Muhammad Ahmad Waheed said that CDA was providing no infrastructure for auctioned plots due to which investors were facing great problems. He said that CDA has planned to build new Blue Area for which international investors were being encouraged. However, he said that after auction of plots in Blue Area, infrastructure was not provided due to which completed buildings could not be made functional.
He urged that CDA should take all stakeholders including ICCI on board for developing new SOPs for construction sector. He also appealed to Amir Ali Ahmed Chairman CDA and Ali Nawaz Awan SAPM on CDA Affairs to pay urgent attention to these issues and take remedial measures to address them.
He further said that ICCI was setting up facilitation desks of various organizations in Chamber and added that CDA should also setup its facilitation at ICCI that would help in addressing the issues of traders and industrialists besides facilitating better growth of business activities.
