Land is expensive due to tourism potential, demand Rs2.2m to Rs2.8m per kanal
“The price per kanal being paid to owners at far flung areas of Chilas and Kohistan for Diamer-Bhasha dam ranges between Rs1.20 to 1.60 million per kanal which is totally barren,” said ex-nazim Khagan and District Council Mansehra Member Syed Moeenul Haq Shah while talking to The Express Tribune.
He is also representing the land owners Action Committee.
Contrary to this, he said, the prices offered here are between Rs0.1 million and Rs1.50 million per kanal, which is unjust as the current market rate is about Rs2 million to Rs10 million.
“The owners of the land are demanding a just price for their precious land or at least a price compatible to the one offered at other places,” said Shah.
Planning Commission Chairman Ahsan Iqbal had earlier accused the people of Kaghan and Naran of asking unreasonable prices for their lands coming under the Suki Kinara Dam project, which caused a delay in starting the project.
Meanwhile, the locals say their land is very costly because of the area’s tourism potential and its off-season crops and it is unfair that the government wants to pay a lower price of 0.6% of the total cost.
Shah said the total land required for the project is 1,500 kanals and people are demanding Rs2.20 million to 2.80 million per kanal, which is lower than the market rates. “Considering this price, the cost comes to about $36 million, which is again less than 2% of the cost of the project,” he said.
Defending the locals, Shah further said that the ‘would-be affectees’ are seeking compensation for lands and not the price of houses and forest but the government was not ready to give that even. “Almost 1,500 families will be displaced; we must treat them fairly otherwise it could have adverse consequences.
Suki Kinara 870 megawatt (MW) hydroelectric power project has now been made part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. It faced a delay of one year because the K-P government failed to resolve the land acquisition issue.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2016.
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