islamabad - The owner of a mall has approached higher authorities including Chief Justice of Pakistan and Chairman Board of Investment against what he views as anti-investor policies of the CDA.
Rana Abdul Qayyum, Chief Executive Officer of M/s Safa Golden Company who is currently behind bars for ‘causing loss to the national exchequer’ has separately addressed the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar; Chairman Board of Investment, Naeem Y. Zamindar; President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sheikh Amir Waheed and Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Miftah Ismail with a plea to “Help Rescue the Investors”. In the letters written to the authorities in the first week of April, he complained about the ‘cold attitude of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) towards investors when it comes to facilitating and guiding them about implementation of Authority’s by-laws pertaining to the buildings in the capital city’.
According to the letters, the mall management applied for some amendments in the design plans for the construction of additional floors and approval of the same was duly granted by all the concerned departments of CDA in year 2012. The CEO of the mall held that their contribution in bringing vast foreign exchange to the country was highly appreciated by the CDA itself through its letter dated 15 March 2010. “The Authority fully appreciates your contribution in bringing valuable foreign exchange to the country, investing it in CDA property and we will make all our efforts to facilitate your cause at all levels of the government,” read a CDA letter addressed to the investor. He said CDA also acknowledged the versatility and uniqueness of the mall whilst displaying it on their web-site to be one of the best buildings in Islamabad Capital Territory.
Narrating details of the disputes with CDA, the letters said on 23 August 2013 that a letter was served by the CDA, whereby “we were asked to pay Rs. 454,794,906.02 on account of Outstanding Premium, ignoring the fact that we already paid an amount of Rs. 227,375,135 as premium on 22 May 2012· The CEO further said that on 23 April 2015, without assigning any cogent reason, CDA suspended the Revised Plan dated 16 November 2012 and after a round of litigation, CDA without giving any warning or prior notice sealed the Mall on 28 July 2016. The letters said that no intimation, no notice for any irregularity whatsoever was ever served upon them before cancellation of the revised approved plan that was accorded on 23 April 2015, after time elapse of 3 years of grant of approval.
The owner said that he has been behind the bars for reasons not known to him. “What I know is that out of love for my country, I brought huge foreign exchange to it, in the capacity of an individual. I was able to raise one of the most beautiful buildings in the capital city and created a number of jobs for my fellow countrymen. I am paying taxes to the government in millions every year and I am proud to contribute towards the socio-economic activities,” he apprised the authorities.
He has asked the authorities to come forward and help restore investors’ confidence in the CDA by making the authority adopt investor-friendly policies.
He lamented that the current policies of the CDA are scaring away investors. He has requested the heads of the organizations to come forward and make the authorities realize that “The investors are real friends of Pakistan”. The Safa Gold mall management is at odds with CDA due to alleged irregularities in the building plan of the building.