HDA cancels Bahria Town land deal over unpaid dues while facing millions in dues itself

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) has cancelled the provisional allotment of 80 acres granted to Bahria Town in the Gulistan-i-Sarmast housing scheme, citing non-payment of dues and acting under directives of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

According to the details reported, Bahria Town obtained the land in January 2015 and was required to build a hospital, a university and a school on the site. NAB has alleged that the developer did not make full payment for the land, which the anti-corruption body described as having been acquired for a nominal Rs383 million.

In a cancellation letter issued on May 4, the HDA director of Planning and Development Control said the developer was required under condition No-V of the provisional allotment order to clear dues for the land within three years, failing which the allotment would stand cancelled and the amount already paid would be forfeited.

The letter said the HDA, in its 121st meeting held on July 1, 2025, decided to recover outstanding dues of Rs826.812 million from M/s Bahria Town. The developer did not clear the amount despite a notice dated April 14, 2026, and had therefore defaulted and violated the terms of the allotment order.

However, in September 2025, the HDA had informed NAB Karachi that Bahria Town owed Rs2,447 million in relation to the same 80-acre parcel. NAB then asked the HDA director general to provide the allotment record, including the names of officers and officials who approved the allotment and the payments made by Bahria Town.

HDA documents on the allotment process showed that the land price had been calculated at Rs383 million in 2015, although that amount had not been approved by the then HDA governing body. Of that amount, Bahria Town paid Rs221 million to the authority. Later, additional components were included in the price, including 30pc utility charges, 40pc external development charges, revised land cost and surcharge or penalty. This has taken the total cost of land to Rs2447.877m.

These details were shared with NAB, according to an HDA source cited in the report.

Questions over Gulistan-i-Sarmast scheme

The cancelled land formed part of the Gulistan-i-Sarmast housing scheme. The allotment had remained provisional and that NAB had been examining the matter for a long time. The bureau had also investigated the wider Gulistan-i-Sarmast scheme, a low-cost housing project launched in 2009 in which billions of rupees had been paid to HDA over the years, but no outcome of that probe had emerged so far.

Allottees of the housing scheme had continued to face difficulties in obtaining relief. It further stated that the latest notable findings on the scheme were compiled by then Hyderabad divisional commissioner Bilal Memon in 2024 under the directives of Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Asif Hyder Shah.

In his report submitted on July 31, 2024, Mr Memon said HDA had been allotted 5,000 acres in Deh Ganjo Takkar, Latifabad, for housing societies. Of this, 200 acres were used for Kohsar, 2,800 acres were retained for HDA City, which his findings described as a failed project that could not take off, and 2,000 acres were used for Gulistan-i-Sarmast. He said Rs1 billion had been paid to the Board of Revenue for 1,000 acres out of those 2,000 acres, while only 360 acres had been mutated in the record of rights.

HDA had conducted balloting for stage IV of Gulistan-i-Sarmast after cancelling plots allotted in earlier stages because of default.

HDA Director General Dr Afshan told Dawn on Wednesday that she would need to collect details regarding payment for Gulistan-i-Sarmast land to the Board of Revenue and the mutation of the scheme’s land in HDA’s favour. Dr Afshan had recently been posted to the authority.

Bilal Memon’s report also raised serious concerns about the viability of Gulistan-i-Sarmast, describing it as an unplanned project launched without official approval or committed funding. The project’s estimated cost in 2009 was Rs13 billion and it was supposed to be financed entirely through the sale of 33,500 residential and commercial plots.

Mr Memon further noted that HDA had not prepared the required financial and environmental impact reports. As a result, around 30,000 investors remained unable to obtain possession of their plots.

He proposed that a policy decision be taken to execute the project through the Annual Development Programme and that the local government department should take ownership of the project and devise development models it considered appropriate.