Regulation, Corruption, and Land Grab : A Tale of Illegal Private Housing Societies in Islamabad

This paper investigates how a Development Authority misused its power to pave way for powerful land mafia to illegally occupy large tracts of land in the Capital city and convert it to housing societies that have no legal value. It turned Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, once celebrated as a pristine, beautiful, and well-planned city in the global south, was turned into urban mayhem. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) was founded for the orderly development of Islamabad. It was bequeathed with overriding powers to manage and develop the city as per the masterplan. However, it has become a monolithic administrator that has failed to solve housing problems for the two million residents of the city. It partnered with the private sector to reduce the housing backlog of 100,000 houses through the development of private housing societies. But regulatory burden, bureaucratic delays, and malpractices have shunned the initiative. Ninety percent of 204 housing societies, comprising about 90 percent of the land (1.26 million kanals) are illegal. CDA does not have control over construction in three of its five zones Zone. 99% of unapproved societies have not completed the development work