| ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has issued a “lease termination notice” to the BNP Group, which owns One Constitution Avenue Project, after it failed to deposit a Rs3 billion instalment in line with the directives of the Supreme Court.
The notice issued by the CDA’s director estate on Tuesday said that the Supreme Court in January 2019 had ruled that if BNP Group defaulted in furnishing a guarantee or payment of any instalment on its due date, the civic agency would have the right, after giving a 30-day notice, to terminate the lease.
The letter said that the said group was advised “to remit an instalment due for 2022, amounting to Rs2.916billion on or before December 31, 2022” but in spite of subsequent reminders, the instalment was not deposited. The BNP Group, thereby, defaulted on the “subject instalment to be paid in favour of CDA, considering the re-adjusted schedule of the Public Account Committee”, it added.
The CDA said that this letter served as notice for the initiation of the termination of the lease in line with the SC order of 2019.
Notice issued after developer failed to deposit Rs3bn instalment
“In this spirit, you are served upon 30-day notice for termination of this lease. Following the completion of 30-day, the authority will proceed in line with the codal formalities, rules, regulations and policy linked with the cancellation/termination of the lease,” read the letter.
It is relevant to note that after rejecting an “offer” of getting a piece of developed land in lieu of pending instalments, the CDA had asked the developer to deposit the due instalment before December 31.
The money, however, was not deposited.
Recently, the Public Account Committee had also directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate the non-payment of Rs17 billion by the said group after it expressed its inability to pay the outstanding instalments.
Since the auction of the plot in 2005, the project has been mired in controversies.
The CDA had auctioned the 13.5 acres for Rs4.8 billion, but without getting the full amount, it handed over the possession of the plot to the company.
It had only received Rs800 million. By 2016-17, only Rs1.02 billion of the remaining amount was paid.
The project also remained on the radar of the Federal Investigation Agency and NAB. In 2017, the CDA cancelled the lease and sealed the building since the plot 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 judgement by a three-member Supreme Court bench headed by then-chief justice Saqib Nisar.
In line with the SC verdict, the developer was supposed to deposit Rs17.5 billion in instalments in eight years.
The company deposited the first instalment of Rs1.7 billion and last year instead of depositing the amount, came up with the idea of “offering” CDA a piece of developed commercial land in lieu of the dues.
However, the CDA has rejected the offer and asked the developer to deposit the due payment.
Hafeez Pasha, the developer of the project, told Dawn that he had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against its 2019 decision which order the developer to pay CDA remaining amount in instalments. “Since the matter is sub-judice I don’t want to comment on it. Looking towards the apex court for early hearing of our review petition,” he said.
In a comment on the notice sent by the CDA, an investor said that many overseas Pakistanis had invested their hard-earned money in the project and hoped the court will protect their rights.
Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2023 |
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