Karachi
The Pakistan Railways (PR) and the Malir Development Authority (MDA) have decided, in principle, to end their legal wrangling over 357 acres of land in Shah Latif Township, and hence, remove one of the obstacles in the revival of the Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) project, The News has learnt.
This land will be handed over to the Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC), which in turn will allocate the land for the resettlement of those affected by the KCR revival project, sources told The News, explaining that decisions to this effect were made during a recent meeting of the KUTC board of directors, which was chaired by Sindh Chief Secretary Fazlur Rehman.
Sources said that these measures are being taken on the insistence of the donor agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), who have made it mandatory for the land to be transferred to the KUTC, and for necessary changes to be made in both the Board of Revenue’s (BoR) ‘record of rights’ as well as in PR’s documentation. “The project’s funding depends on these requirements being met,” sources said.
A participant of the meeting, while requesting anonymity, told The News that while all concerns of the PR and the MDA have been addressed, the only question now was that of implementation of the decisions. “There are a number of issues, but the most pressing are when the land will be handed over to the KUTC, and when will work commence on the KCR’s revival,” the official said.
Sources said that one of the topics in the agenda of the recent meeting was to revisit the fifth meeting of the KUTC board of directors, held on October 6, 2009, where it was decided that after an amicable settlement is reached at between the PR and the MDA, the subjudiced land of Suit No. 399 of 1983 will be provided to the KUTC for the resettlement of the project affected.
The arrangement between the PR and MDA was for the latter to vacate the suit land, thereby paving the way for the railways to establish its ownership over the land. Once this process is completed, not only would the PR transfer its ownership rights to the KUTC, the Board of Revenue (BoR) would also give a final seal of approval to the move.
It was decided at the time that PR’s attorney, Makhdoom Ali Khan, would draft a formal application to be filed in the Sindh High Court (SHC) to withdraw the suit, with the application bearing the signatures of the MDA director general and of the divisional superintendent of the PR. “This process is now nearing completion,” sources claimed, explaining that the MDA had made some amendments to the initial draft and has sent it back
The Pakistan Railways (PR) and the Malir Development Authority (MDA) have decided, in principle, to end their legal wrangling over 357 acres of land in Shah Latif Township, and hence, remove one of the obstacles in the revival of the Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) project, The News has learnt.
This land will be handed over to the Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC), which in turn will allocate the land for the resettlement of those affected by the KCR revival project, sources told The News, explaining that decisions to this effect were made during a recent meeting of the KUTC board of directors, which was chaired by Sindh Chief Secretary Fazlur Rehman.
Sources said that these measures are being taken on the insistence of the donor agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), who have made it mandatory for the land to be transferred to the KUTC, and for necessary changes to be made in both the Board of Revenue’s (BoR) ‘record of rights’ as well as in PR’s documentation. “The project’s funding depends on these requirements being met,” sources said.
A participant of the meeting, while requesting anonymity, told The News that while all concerns of the PR and the MDA have been addressed, the only question now was that of implementation of the decisions. “There are a number of issues, but the most pressing are when the land will be handed over to the KUTC, and when will work commence on the KCR’s revival,” the official said.
Sources said that one of the topics in the agenda of the recent meeting was to revisit the fifth meeting of the KUTC board of directors, held on October 6, 2009, where it was decided that after an amicable settlement is reached at between the PR and the MDA, the subjudiced land of Suit No. 399 of 1983 will be provided to the KUTC for the resettlement of the project affected.
The arrangement between the PR and MDA was for the latter to vacate the suit land, thereby paving the way for the railways to establish its ownership over the land. Once this process is completed, not only would the PR transfer its ownership rights to the KUTC, the Board of Revenue (BoR) would also give a final seal of approval to the move.
It was decided at the time that PR’s attorney, Makhdoom Ali Khan, would draft a formal application to be filed in the Sindh High Court (SHC) to withdraw the suit, with the application bearing the signatures of the MDA director general and of the divisional superintendent of the PR. “This process is now nearing completion,” sources claimed, explaining that the MDA had made some amendments to the initial draft and has sent it back
No comments:
Post a Comment