There must be hundreds of thousands of people who bought plots in multiple housing societies at the time when these projects were in the planning stage. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, investing in any project means leaving a bag of gold unattended at a railway station and expecting it to be there after coming back a year later. The real-estate sector plays a big role in economic progress. However, this sector is crowded by businessmen who are not keen to meet the legal and ethical requirements of their profession. We regularly hear complaints of fake allotment letters, dishonest transfer of files, misappropriation of funds, etc. If the government genuinely desires to promote the sector, it must regulate it in an even stricter manner. The country needs a centralised system of maintaining records of all residential societies to ensure that investors’ rights are protected. The Central Depository Company (CDC) is a well-known institution that maintains a record of the transfer of shares for the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX); the government should establish a CDC-like organisation for the real estate sector, making it legally binding for all real-estate developers to record all their transactions with a competent organisation. This department will ensure that every allotment and the subsequent transfer is legitimate, and investors are safe from frauds. The fraudulent transfer of files and inordinate delays in completion of schemes will become detectable. People will be more inclined to invest in real-estate if they are assured that their investments are safe. Overseas Pakistanis, too, will benefit from this centralised regulatory body. It will be able to provide reliable data on the state of real-estate development in the country at any given moment of time.
Right now, due to a lack of regulation in the real-estate sector, financial institutions are reluctant to invest, directly or indirectly, in this sector. A centralised institution can play a big role in removing investors’ doubts. It can also serve as a useful tool for enhancing tax collection. A political government that came to power on promises of transparency should launch such an organisation.
Syed Hussein El-Edroos
Islamabad
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