LAHORE – Pakistan’s most prestigious housing developer Defence Housing Authority is set to land in Multan and Bahwalpur with a new housing society ignoring the fact that it swindled billions from civilians and families of martyred in its DHA City Lahore project.
DHA known for its exquisite lifestyle and fulfilling promises launched a project named ‘DHA City’ in Lahore back in 2010. A catchy advertisement with a tag line ‘Your turn to build house in DHA’ appeared in leading newspapers on June 22, 2010.
DHA set a deadline of July 7, 2010 for receiving applications from citizens. Residential plots in three categories measuring 5 Marla, 10 Marla and a Kanal were launched to help locals build their homes in Pakistan’s most sought after housing society.
Additionally, two more categories were designated for those seeking plots. With 10 percent charges, locals could try their luck to have a plot through balloting while with 30 percent advance payment, confirmed booking was offered. The rest of the amount was to be paid in 3 years on quarterly basis.
Price for 5 Marla plot was fixed at Rs. 990,000, for 10 Marla it was 1980000 while for kanal it was Rs. 3760000.
For those enrolled in balloting, submitted Rs. 2,08, 000 initially while those who filed for confirmed booking handed over Rs. 6,04,000 to DHA.
After booking, DHA received first instalment in October 2010 and continued receiving quarterly instalments for three long years untill June 2013.
For all of these three years, DHA kept telling fairy tails to the file holders that the project ‘DHA City’ would be in close vicinity, almost in 3 Km radius of DHA EME housing society without pinpointing the location.
All the receipts and installments were collected at DHA EME office thus clearing any confusion whether the project originally belonged to DHA or not.
But to the dismay of over 11000 applicants, it was revealed that no land what so ever was designated by the management of DHA after the complete submission of installments.
The applicants met a shocking fate in 2015 when it was disclosed that the graft-buster NAB initiated inquiry against officials attached to the project and Kamran Kiyani, brother of former military head, Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani was found to be one of the masterminds allegedly behind the scam.
The situation became worse when in early January 2016, NAB formally launched investigations against Kamran Kiyani, thus clarifying applicants that their hard-earned money was being swindled in a nefarious way.
Moreover, in February, retired Brig Khalid Nazir Butt who carried out balloting in 2010 was arrested by NAB on charges of corruption linked to DHA City Lahore project.
Meanwhile, NAB also arrested Hammad Arshad, owner of Globaco (Pvt) Ltd allegedly for not providing promised land to DHA for the said project.
What adds insult to the injury of DHA is the fact that the project comprised of plots for civilians but also for families of martyred who lost their lives while protecting the homeland.
As much as 30 percent quota was fixed for families of martyred soldiers, junior commissioned and non commissioned officials.
When DHA City Lahore affectees turned to DHA in a bid to have their concerns adressed, DHA simply deflected the blame and placed it on Globaco adding that DHA had moved NAB against Globaco.
But, as a matter of fact, DHA never advertised or carried any logo/sign of Globaco in its advertisements and never told applicants about their deal with Globaco ever since the project was launched in 2010.
DHA took the plea that Globaco had to provide land to the developer which it failed to do so ignoring the fact that the locals trusted the brand ‘DHA’ and deposited hefty amount of money.
Moreover, the allocation letter issued in March 2014 categorically bore the stamp, sign and official endorsement of DHA. A map was also released after an extended duration to apprise applicants of exact location of DHA City.
According to NAB officials, more than 11000 applicants became a victim of scam committed by DHA in its DHA City project. The scam worths Rs. 17 billions.
Apart from the installments, DHA also minted Rs. 5000 for 5 Marla, Rs. 10000 for 10 Marla and Rs. 15000 for one Kanal from applicants as processing fee which was non-refundable.
What mars the reputation of DHA is the fact that almost 7 years have passed and DHA has not even designated any piece of land for its DHA City project, a map of which was however released officially.
Despite the fact that DHA failed to provide land to the citizens for which it bagged money regarding the DHA City Lahore project, it launched two more projects named DHA Multan and DHA Bahawalpur.
Large- scale advertisements for DHA Multan and DHA Bahawalpur are being published in leading locals but the question remains the same: What DHA did practically to address the concerns of DHA City Lahore victims.
It may be mentioned here that the amount Rs. 198000 for 10 Marla in 2010 depreciated a lot over a span of seven years. The same amount is not worth a single Marla in any of the other DHA projects.
Besides many other heart-wrenching stories, one of the affectees of DHA City Lahore, ‘Ameera’ expressed that she sold her jewellery in order to buy a plot in DHA City Lahore, but her dream was shattered by the ill practices of powerful elite.
The burning question still unanswered is a shame for higher ups of DHA is that when the developer failed to deliver plots to its file holders of DHA City Lahore, why was it heading to other cities.
Scores of victims demand that DHA should accomodate DHA City victims in its ongoing projects because a recovery of the money would not worth much, as the land prices spiked a lot in seven years.
