36 firms show interest in high-rise apartments project

ISLAMABAD: As many as 36 firms have shown interest in entering into a joint venture with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for the construction of high-rise apartments in Sector E-11.

The CDA sources told ‘The News’ Friday that six companies from Malaysia and two from the United Arab Emirates are among those which have submitted ‘expressions of interest’ to take up the project.

A CDA official said that after scrutiny of ‘expressions of interest,’ the shortlisted companies would be asked to submit their proposals for the mega project of high-rise residential towers at a designated site in Sector E-11. "We have identified 70 acres of land for this project, first of its kind in Pakistan," he said.

Talking about the concept of the project, he said that all facilities within the project area, spread over 70 acres, would exclusively be used by the residents.

The official said that the profit earned from the project would be shared by the private company and the Capital Development Authority (CDA). "The government has allowed high towers in Sector E-11 up to the height of 150 feet which means that around 12-storey buildings can be constructed in this area," he said. (When the ##### are we going to stop making 12 storey fukin buildings, and build some proper 40 storey highrisers)

He said that the CDA intends to construct modern, well-planned up-market high-rise apartments having shopping centre and other facilities such as community centre, school, mosque, playfields, health centre in the northern acquired strip of land measuring about of 70 acres in Sector E-11 on joint venture basis.

He said that the selection of a company for the project would be taken on the basis of proposals and experience of the party in development of housing sector.

I think the idea of a 12 storey building for Islo is based on the following fact:

The real beauty of Islamabad is the surrounding natural scenery... the mountains surrounding Islamabad's background are a defining factor of its character.

Building large high-rises will diminish this unique & beautiful view and may even destroy the city's character!

Just a thought!

I doubt that very much there are many examples of citys with high rises with views, Hong Kong for example, if anything high rise buildings would add to the scenery, i doubt that the govermernt would be reluctant to make high rises for the simple fact that there are hills around islamabad.

Well one of the factors for not building very tall sky scrapers in Islamabad is the fact that its the capital of the country. Highrises are a symbol of trading centers, whereas the capital represents the cultural aspect of the country in every form be that architecture.

Most capital cities of the world have a unique architecture and don't usually have sky scrappers. And in Islamabad's case I think the govt wants to show our cultural heritage in its architecture. We have the parliament buildings and allied offices in white marble and then we have the Supreme court in white marble with its unique design and then we have the new PM secretariat in marble again with its Mughal design. And then the highrises of Blue Area are a blend of modern and cultural designs.

I personally prefer to continue this theme. Not every city has to have tall sky scrappers. The places where I would like to see really tall modern sky scrappers would be Karachi, Gawadar, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Quetta and many other medium sized cities in central Pakistan but definitely not in Lahore and Islamabad.

That's my opinion.

I have just recently visited E-11 sector ... I was on a mission from our head office to see the construction market of Islamabad ... E-11 is just opposite the new proposed GHQ .. Height restriction is understandable !

So i suppose this type of projects is now on the back burner !