New GHQ being built on 2,438 acres’By Irfan Ghauri
ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has allotted 2,438 acres of land in three sectors of Islamabad for the construction of a new General Headquarters (GHQ) for Pakistan’s armed forces, Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal told the National Assembly on Friday.
The minister said that work on infrastructure development in the area would begin in May. He said out of the 2,438 acres allotted in E-10, D-11 and E-9 Sectors, residential complexes will be built over 1,115 acres in E-10 while public amenities like schools and hospitals will be built over 315 acres in D-11. He said that the remaining 1,008 acres fall north of E-9 and E-10 Sectors where Naval and Air Headquarters would be built. As many as 190 acres will be used for the official complex of the Ministry of Defence, Joint Services Headquarters and General Headquarters. The rest will be used as a security buffer for Defence Services Headquarters, open spaces and periphery roads.
The government decided to shift GHQ from Rawalpindi to Islamabad after assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003. Initially, the 1,165 acres of land was allotted for GHQ at the rate of Rs 40 per square yard. Then another 1,085 acres were allotted in the same area under the revised plan at the rate of Rs 150 per square yard. However the latest information provided to the lower house revealed that an additional 188 acres were allotted for the project instead of the total 2,250 acres initially allotted. The minister did not mention the price of the additional 188 acres nor did he mention when this additional land was acquired.
To another question, the defence minister said that the Defence Ministry had decided to deduct five percent of the salaries of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees under the head of medical treatment. He said that under the new medical policy, employees have been given the option either to continue availing the existing OPD care against the five percent deduction in their basic salary or to receive five percent additional allowance in lieu of not using the OPD facility.
Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon told the house that five blasts at gas pipelines took place in Balochistan during 2004-05 which resulted in the loss of Rs 537 million. He said the Oil Companies Advisory Committee was presently charging 3.5 percent commission on a litre of petroleum products. He said that in July 2001 the companies were charging 2.16 percent commission on petrol, 1.92 percent on diesel and 1.36 percent on a litre of kerosene oil. In June 2002 they were charging 3.5 percent commission on petrol, 3.0 percent on diesel and 3.5 percent on kerosene oil. The minister said that from July 1 2002, a flat rate of 3.5 percent was fixed on all petroleum products.
