Contrary to its claims of attracting foreign investment in the province the Punjab administration has offended the foreigners already in business in the country with different Pakistani entities and the ‘Dharabi Lake Resort’ project is a recent example.
The ‘qabza mafia mind-set’ of the PML-N rulers which is always criticised by the political opponents and who say that they keep themselves away from any project that had been initiated by the predecessors till the time it gets a plaque of their own name has started a new game. Under the very nose of Mian Shahbaz Sharif, some believe it is being done at his behest. The Punjab administration has started forcibly capturing the lands bought, levelled, prepared and finalised for a project by Pakistani entities with the help of foreign investors.
It has come to light that a public company incorporated under the laws of Pakistan, Pace Barka Properties Limited, presently involved in several such mega projects that relate to the establishment and construction of apartment complexes, hotels, shopping malls, recreational facilities in the country, in the year 2006 based on the interest shown by its foreign investors, purchased approximately 4,072 kanals of land in Balkasar and adjoining areas. They bought 2,227 kanals in Balkasar, 1068 kanals in Mureed and 777 kanals in Raihna Sadaat.
The land is situated at Dharabi Lake, Mouza Balkar, Tehsil and District Chakwal and was bought for the construction, development and establishment of ‘Pace Resorts’ and a five star hotel, giving it the name of ‘Peacock Valley’. The project includes a luxury hotel facility, scenic views and lake facility for water-based sports and recreation, etc. The primary purpose of the project is to bring direct foreign investment into Pakistan, create job opportunities for the residents of the locality, encourage and promote tourism and guests from within and outside Pakistan to visit the locality and boost the inflow of foreign investment and create a softer and healthier image of Pakistan the world over.
It is very important to note that the major shareholding in the project is of foreign investors who have only invested for the business purposes by contributing in the form of foreign currency, increasing foreign exchange reserves and revenue of Pakistan. It is also essential to mention here that the foreign investors have only considered investing in the real estate and development industry of Pakistan based on the tedious efforts and representations made by the Pace Baraka aiming at bringing foreign investment into the country for business purposes. In other words this land is in fact owned by the foreign investors.
The Pace Barka after purchasing the land from the owners in the year 2006 with the money of foreign investors hired services of renowned foreign consultants to develop the land to execute the project. The lay-outs, structures, plans, site plans, designs, etc, relating to the hotel and resorts’ construction was made by the foreign experts of international repute. No need to say that Pace Barka has to date spent millions of rupees on the levelling of the land as in original form it comprised of hundreds of square feet of covered area comprised of rocky hills and sand dunes.
As advised by the foreign consultants in regard to the project, Pace Barka hired the services of expert land developers and spent millions of rupees to bulldoze, raze, flatten the land to make it a levelled and plain surface. This process entailed the hiring and usage of heavy and expensive machinery at the location that were utilised to cut and level the rocky riverbanks surrounding the property. Worth mentioning is that the major chunk of the money was sent by the foreign investors. To cut a long story short Pace Barka with the sharing of foreign investors money is working on this project for the last seven years and has spent several millions of rupee on this project and the work is still continued.
The qabza group mindset Punjab rulers, with the aim to grab this land, issued a notice to the company under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 on 26.03.2014 asking them to vacate the land. The government issued second notice under Section 6 and 17(4) of the Act on 29.04.2013 forcing them to vacate the land on a price of its own choice several thousands times less than the amount they have spent to execute the project. Pace Barka moved to the quarters concerned to express its point of view, arguing that the blatant and outright acquisition of the property by the Punjab government would result in breach of legally binding national and international documentation, agreements and contracts to which the Pace Barka and its foreign and local partners are parties to and such act of the Punjab government would open floodgates of local and international litigation that shall not only involve the Pace Barka but also engross the government of Pakistan and shall only result in tarnishing and damaging the image of the country in the eyes of foreign investors and their countries of origin.
The Pace Barka has submitted its statement to the assistant commissioner/land acquisition collector, tehsil Chakwal, objecting to the acquisition of land but is still waiting a decision in writing. It is worth mentioning that contrary to Punjab in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) foreign investment is much appreciated and the provincial government creates conducive atmosphere for the foreigners. The steps taken by KP have restored confidence of the foreigners. The atmosphere has led to vow of grants from the international entities, as out of the Rs 118 billion ADP for the current fiscal, the provincial government will raise Rs 83 billion from its resources, while the rest will come from multiple donors, including DFID, JICA, SDC, USAID, NORAD, World Bank, UNDP and ADB. Of this amount, Rs 30.6 billion is in grants and Rs 4.4 billion in loans.
A noteworthy point is that in the recent past Punjab government used to flay the federal government for “scaring away foreign investors wanting to invest in Punjab”. It alleged that “wrong policies of the Centre forced the Turkish investors to wind up their projects, while the Chinese and Iranian investors too got disappointed”. It is a point to ponder for Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif whether ‘qabza group mindset’ of his administration would annoy the foreigners having intention of investing in different billion rupee worth projects in the province. Every sane mind would advise Mian Shahbaz Sharif to have a look into the affairs of his administration and avoid steps that could annoy the foreign investors.
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