Tax on presumed rental income is contested in the LHC

Tax on presumed rental income is contested in the LHC

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Lahore: The former chairman of District Council Narowal has challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC) the law that says people have to pay income tax on “deemed rental income” from properties. This was reported in the national dailies on November 16.

Based on the details, the new law said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had to treat every property whose owners did not use it as if it was rented out for 5% of its total market value. This means that every property owner will have to pay a tax to the federal government that is equal to 1% of the property’s market value.

Read more with EL news: CDA establishes a committee to modify zoning regulations

The news source said that the petitioner thought that the tax imposed under the newly added section 7E of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 had been charged as an income tax when it was clearly not an income tax. He then said that property tax is the only major way for local governments to get money. He asked the LHC to say that it was illegal and against the Constitution.

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CDA establishes a committee to modify zoning regulations

CDA establishes a committee to modify zoning regulations

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News sources said that on November 14, the board of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Islamabad set up a committee to make recommendations for changes to the zoning rules of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Read more with EL news: LDA approves development fees for the Iqbal, Jinnah sectors

Waseem Hayat Bajwa, a member of the planning committee, will be in charge of putting the final touches on the committee’s recommendations and proposed rules. They will then be sent to the federal cabinet for final approval. The rules will be written with the zoning laws of 1992 in mind.

Reports say that the CDA board has agreed to make legal 50,000 acres of land in Zone-III. This area includes a lot of the Margalla Hills National Park and the villages near it.

It’s important to note that the CDA is changing its rules for the first time since 1992 in order to make things easier for the people who live there. Zone III is very important, though, because of its green land and wildlife. Local governments, environmental groups, and non-government groups have asked the government to pass laws that will protect the green nature of the zone.

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LDA approves development fees for the Iqbal, Jinnah sectors

LDA approves development fees for the Iqbal, Jinnah sectors

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On November 15, the Lahore Development Authority’s (LDA) official Facebook page said that the LDA’s governing body had approved new development fees for the Jinnah and Iqbal sectors of LDA City.

Read more with EL news: RUDA will initiate development work in the industrial sector

The decision was made at the sixth meeting of the LDA’s governing board. Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Pervaiz Elahi was in charge of the meeting. The prices will go up for the third round of voting for residential plots in the Jinnah and Iqbal sectors. In addition, the development charges could go up if the costs of development go up, and there are other terms and conditions in the allocation letter.

Read: The LDA is looking for proposals to rent out the Walk & Shop Arena in Johar Town.

Here’s how the new fees are broken down in detail:

There may be a picture of the words “DEVELOPMENT CHARGES” (TENTATIVE) LDACITY JINNAH IQBAL SECTOR SR. NO. LAHORE PLOT CATEGORY (RESIDENTIAL) 2 KANAL CHARGES THAT CAN BE PAID BACK 2 KANAL 4,600,000 10 MARLA 2,300,000 05 MARLA 1,400,000 800,000 The fees listed above have been approved for residential plots that were given out in the third balloting. Cost increases will apply to the development charges. Development charges are subject to the terms and conditions listed in the allocation letters, the time of completion, and the LAHORE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.
According to the news article, the prices may go up when the development work is done.

Besides this, the governing body also decided the following:

Roof gardens and parking spots are now required for all new apartment buildings in the city.
Mosques no longer have to pay sewage fees.
The board approved a better layout plan for the LDA Avenue-1 project.
Setting up a “Settlement Committee” to settle disagreements in projects run by the LDA.
The vertical height of schools can be no more than 48 feet, and no school will be allowed on roads that are less than 30 feet wide.

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RUDA will initiate development work in the industrial sector

RUDA will initiate development work in the industrial sector

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News from November 13 says that the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) is ready to start developing the existing industrial area and the land next to it that is part of the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project (RRUDP).

Read more with EL news: CDA to evaluate pre-qualification proposals for parking plazas’ construction

According to the details, the Ravi Industrial Zone will be gated off in the first phase, and signs will be put up with the names of roads, streets, the type of industry, and the location. In the next phase, development work will start, which will include putting in water lines, sewer pipes, and other infrastructure.

Also, work on the land next to it, which is set aside for the Ravi Industrial Estate, will start soon. The news source said that the Ravi project’s industrial area takes up about 7,300 acres of land in total. The current industrial area is spread out over 2,500 acres, and RUDA wants to use the other 4,800 acres to build a high-tech industrial estate.

Inam Butt, who is the head of the Ravi Industrial Estate Association, said that there are as many as 1,000 small and medium-sized factories in the area. These factories make things like auto parts, plastics, and export items. He went on to say that RUDA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Imran Amin, told the business community at a meeting that the authority would regulate the existing Ravi industrial zone and solve any problems that the owners of industrial units were having.

The chairman told the factory owners that they must pay between PKR 5,000 and PKR 10,000 as an enlistment fee/member fee of the industrial zone for their business points that are up to five kanals or larger. This is so that the factory owners can get their buildings registered. It was said that the owners would have to pay development fees of PKR 500,000 per kanal within five years and processing fees of PKR 30,000 for the relevant authorities to approve the map.

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CDA to evaluate pre-qualification proposals for parking plazas’ construction

CDA to evaluate pre-qualification proposals for parking plazas’ construction

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On November 14, news sources said that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had started to look at the pre-qualification bids from 17 companies to build five plaza projects in the city.

The project is one of six parking plaza plans for the Blue Area, which would be able to hold about 3,500 cars. According to news reports, 17 companies have sent pre-qualification proposals to the CDA selection committee. The authority will review these proposals over the next two weeks to choose qualified companies for the project. A CDA official told the media that after the first inspection, the CDA would put out a tender, and only the companies that were pre-qualified after the first inspection would be able to bid.

Read more with EL news: The PM forms a committee for the Bhara Kahu Bypass

The idea is that the CDA would sell a few levels of Blue Area parking plazas to pay for the costs of building the project. CDA officials say that about 350,000 cars enter and leave Islamabad every day. The same number of cars belong to people who live in the city, and the growth rate of car ownership in Islamabad is much higher than the national growth rate.

 

It’s important to note that CDA is currently building one of the six planned plazas at Savour Foods. This plaza will have enough space for 1,300 cars. The National Logistic Cell (NLC) is working on the project, which has a budget of PKR 1.2 billion.

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The PM forms a committee for the Bhara Kahu Bypass

The PM forms a committee for the Bhara Kahu Bypass

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The news from November 12 says that Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has set up a cabinet committee to make recommendations on the Bhara Kahu Bypass project.

Read more with EL news: Government initiates nationwide uplift program for backward districts

The news source said that the committee will give its recommendations to the federal cabinet, which will then make the final decision about where the Bhara Kahu Bypass project will go through Quaid-e-Azam University. It was said that the recommendation should be finished by the committee within five days.

Work on the project is moving quickly, except for the part that has to do with Quaid-e-Azam University. It’s important to know that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) stopped development work because university teachers asked for it.

According to the details, the National Logistics Cell (NLC), which works for the Capital Development Authority (CDA), has been doing piling work on the one-kilometer-long flyover project, which is part of the Bhara Kahu bypass project. The officials from the CDA, whose names were not given, said that the project should be done in four months.

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Government initiates nationwide uplift program for backward districts

Government initiates nationwide uplift program for backward districts

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The leading newspapers reported on November 13 that the Ministry of Planning has started a special development plan for 20 of the country’s poorest districts.

Read more with EL news: The CDA allots land for the child protection institute

The PKR 40 billion development plan will be put into action in four provinces over a period of 60 months through a number of uplift plans. The main goal of this project is to promote inclusive growth and fair development by investing in human capital and improving infrastructure in the country’s poorest districts.

Based on the details, the cost of the project will be split 50/50 between the federal government and the provincial government. The Central Development Working Party gave the project the green light (CDWP). In the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2022-23 budget, PKR 18 billion has already been set aside for the project.

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) scores were used to choose the 20 districts, the news source said. Here are the districts that were chosen:

Baluchistan:

  • Sherani Jhal Magsi
  • Killa Abdullah Musakhel Jaffarbad
  • Kohlu \Barkhan
  • Read: The district of Rawalpindi will get projects worth PKR 1 billion.

Zhob Dera Bugti Killa Saifullah Ziarat Sindh:

  • Tharpakar Badin Kashmore
  • Sujawal \Thatta
  • Punjab approves projects to fix up roads in Jhang, Chiniot, Khushab, and other districts.

KP:

Shangla, which is in North Waziristan,
Torghar Punjab:

Rajanpur
Details show that the schemes to improve these districts will focus on roads, solarizing off-grid areas, giving people access to broadband services and the internet, developing the agri-livestock and mineral value chain, dairy farming, tunnel farming, fish farming, setting up LPG terminals, investing in skill development and giving students scholarships, and setting up common border markets.

According to reports, the federal and provincial governments will choose sub-projects based on an in-depth look at the needs of the marginalized population in each area. It was said that both provincial and federal steering committees will keep an eye on these kinds of projects.

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The CDA allots land for the child protection institute

The CDA allots land for the child protection institute

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News sources say that the board of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) agreed on Friday to give a plot in Sector H-11/4 for the first child protection institute to be built in Islamabad.

The Islamabad Capital Territory Child Protection Act, 2018, says that a child protection center must be built, so the board gave its approval to the project. The Ministry of Human Rights (HR) will start building the institute once it has been given 8 kanals of land. The institute will help vulnerable children and those who have been abused as children in Islamabad by protecting them and helping them get back on their feet. This will be done in consultation with and coordination with all relevant stakeholders.

Read more with EL news: DHA Quetta Regional Office will begin operations in Lahore on Monday

Sources from the CDA said that the meeting on Friday would be about 18 projects and development-related agenda items, such as summaries of changes to zoning rules and proposed bylaws for agro farms. Since there wasn’t enough time, the meeting was set to continue on Monday, November 14, to talk about the ICT Zoning Regulations 1992 for Zone-III of Islamabad. The CDA is supposed to let Zone-III be regulated so that houses can be built on green land, but the policy still isn’t clear on what kind of houses can be built. Sources from the CDA said that the members of the board think that only locals should be able to build small houses on Zone-III land, not big developers.

Read: FGEHA plans to sell land in Islamabad that will be used to build a five-star hotel.

It is important to know that Islamabad is split into five zones, except for Zone-III, which is made up of the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) and private land. Zone III is made up of 50,000 acres of land, 20,000 of which are owned privately.

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