PHA Kurri Road crisis: 2023 promise still unfulfil…

Islamabad: A three year old promise to build an important access road for the PHA Officers Residencia Kurri Road has still not been fulfilled, leaving residents dependent on a narrow 12 foot road and a small bridge where rainwater can overflow and enter nearby homes.

The Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works has now given the Capital Development Authority a fresh deadline of three months to build the 400 metre access road, after officials were confronted over why a commitment made in 2023 had not been implemented.

The issue became heated during the committee meeting when the PHA Kurri Road representative told senators that the CDA had given a written commitment in May 2023 to construct a dual 100 foot wide road extending towards the Head Start School.

Three years have passed since that commitment, but the road has not been built. The PHA representative further told the committee that the CDA later informed the court in writing that the road would be constructed within five months.

That promise also remained unfulfilled. According to the briefing, the existing road is only about 12 feet wide, and a small bridge along the route creates another serious problem during heavy rain. Water can overflow onto the bridge and, when wood and other material become trapped, the water flow can be blocked and pushed towards nearby houses.

The committee chairman Senator Nasir Mehmood questioned the CDA representative about why the authority had not acted on its own written commitment.

The CDA Member Planning and Finance, Muhammad Umair, said the authority’s rules required the sponsors of a housing scheme to provide a 100 foot wide access approach.

He described the matter as disputed but said the road was about 400 metres long and that the authority could review the issue and work towards a final decision. The committee was not satisfied with the explanation.

The chairman ordered the CDA to construct the road within three months and provide the committee with a written commitment. The chairman also made it clear that the committee would return to the CDA after three months to check whether the road had actually been built.

The dispute became more serious when the Secretary Housing challenged the CDA’s interpretation of its own rules. He argued that the road existed before the PHA scheme and therefore represented the CDA’s existing right of way. He said that if there had been no road at all before the housing scheme was developed, PHA would have been responsible for acquiring land and constructing one.

But, he argued, this was an existing CDA road. The Secretary Housing also pointed out that the road leads towards a Head Start School used daily by children and their parents.

He told the CDA that even if the authority did not want to build the road for PHA, it should consider the needs of the school and the families using the route. He described the required road as only 400 metres long.

The CDA representative also raised the authority’s financial problems. He told the committee that the CDA had a salary bill of about Rs24 billion and faced major financial constraints. He warned that if the CDA began constructing roads on the rights of way of different private societies, other societies could also demand similar work.

The chairman rejected the delay and told the CDA that continued explanations could result in another six months passing without any work. He ordered the authority to complete the road within three months and submit its commitment in writing.

The road dispute is only one part of a much larger problem at the PHA Officers Residencia Kurri Road project. According to the Housing Secretary’s briefing, residents have been facing nine different issues, including problems involving a community centre, school, commercial shops, streetlights, water supply, encroachment, access roads and the creation of new plots.

The representative of PHA Officers Residencia told the committee that many of these problems had remained unresolved for about 10 years. The Housing Secretary personally visited the project despite heavy rains and examined the problems.

On the community centre, the Housing Ministry said there was no major obstacle to providing the required plot once the terms and conditions were agreed.

A school plot is also being processed. The ministry said documents had been prepared and a party would be brought in to operate a primary school at the site because a Head Start facility already exists nearby.

The commercial shops in Block C also faced a problem because no buyers came forward at the offered price. The Housing Secretary said the price would be revised, and the shops would be put up for auction again.

Streetlights remain another concern, with the ministry acknowledging financial problems but saying repairs would be carried out. Water supply is also being tested.

Under the arrangement explained to the committee, the contractor will operate the tube well for two weeks. If water reaches the houses properly, the system will be taken over. Any leakage found during the process will have to be repaired by the contractor.

The ministry expects this process to be completed within one month. The project also has a nine kanal illegal encroachment issue, but that matter is currently before the court. Another major issue involves proposals to create new plots in green areas.

PHA needs money to clear its liabilities, but the Housing Secretary said there was no desire to sell green areas simply to raise funds. Instead, he said his team would sit with PHA officials and find another way to clear the liabilities while protecting the green space.

The committee also discussed who should maintain the housing scheme once it is fully developed. PHA officials said the authority was already paying property tax and conservancy charges but lacked a proper maintenance arrangement for the society.

They requested that the CDA take over the scheme so that it would not be left without proper management. The Housing Secretary said government housing schemes are normally maintained by their own communities rather than being taken over by the CDA.

He suggested that residents could establish a management committee or company and operate the scheme through service charges. He also acknowledged that the residents were currently maintaining the area well, particularly its cleanliness and horticulture.

The committee directed PHA and the Housing Secretary to resolve the maintenance issue through mutual consultation. The Kurri Road controversy has therefore exposed a wider problem involving years of delays, disputes between government institutions, basic civic facilities and uncertainty over responsibility for infrastructure.