CDA faces deadline to resolve PIDE’s Rs4bn land dispute

The Capital Development Authority has been ordered to either allocate suitable land to the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics or return roughly Rs4 billion that the think tank deposited with it, according to Mettis Global. Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal voiced serious concern about the delay, which has now run for six years. PIDE paid about Rs4 billion to the CDA between 2017 and 2020 but still has not received the land.

Ahsan Iqbal said PIDE had raised the matter with the CDA since 2022 and that plots allocated to the institution had repeatedly turned out to have legal or ownership problems. He ordered the authority to give an immediate and clear reply and said the issue cannot remain pending any longer, as APP reported.

In the same review, he asked authorities to maintain top construction standards on the Kachhi Canal Phase-II project and to involve the Government of Balochistan in weighing every option. He also pressed for faster work on the 35-kilometre Loralai-Zhob road and directed that the Allama Iqbal Memorial and Iqbal Library be built to international standards, with the library summary forwarded to the CDA within three days.