Bahria Town Karachi
Bahria Town Karachi is a privately-owned gated suburb under construction near Karachi, Pakistan. The suburb is being developed by the Bahria Town Group, and occupies under, just off the Super Highway northeast of Karachi. The project has been the largest real estate qabza scam, Supreme Court of Pakistan has penalised Bahria Town and the judgment implementation bench hearing is ongoing.
Affectees have been raising voice, please google for details
The community will include the Grand Jamia Mosque, which will be the world's third largest, and the Rafi Cricket Stadium, the country's largest, designed by GMW Architects. The community is divided by the, 18-lane, Jinnah Avenue. The community will be energy independent with a coal-fired and an LNG-powered electricity generation plant, in partnership with K-Electric. It is also home to a 36-hole United States Golf Association standard golf course.
The community is planned to house house around one million people. The town will be connected to I. I. Chundrigar Road by a Karachi Metrobus route in the future. As of March 9, 2016, 104,000 residential units have been sold to customers. In 2019, Bahria Town Karachi demanded unplanned 35% development charges, which were later inferred for an unknown period., it sparked protests and criticism throughout in Karachi and overseas. Moreover the refunds of illegal plotting are still not issued.
Sub-divisions
Bahria Town Karachi is divided into several precincts.| Sub-division | Description |
| Precincts 1 through 31 | Residential plots of 125, 250 and 500 Sqft. |
| Bahria Farmhouses | 4,000 to 8,000 Sq Yards Plots |
| Bahria Sports City | Residential plots around the Rafi Cricket Stadium |
| Bahria Homes | 125 and 200 Sq Yard townhouses. |
| Bahria Apartments | 2, 3 and 4 bedroom low-rise apartments |
| Bahria Heights | Mixed-use development with furnished 2-bedroom apartments and shops. |
| Jinnah Avenue | Modeled after the Sheikh Zayed road in Dubai, the 400 ft road with 500sq.ft commercial plots for high rise buildings. |
| Bahria Karachi Golf Club | 36 Hole PGA Standard Golf Course |
| Grand Jamia Mosque | Planned to be the third largest in the world. |
Infrastructure
Saudi German Hospital Group is constructing a 300-bed hospital on a 12-acre site at a cost of $300 million.On October 5, 2016, K-Electric and Bahria announced plans to set up a plant for construction of a 600MW energy plant exclusively for Bahria Town Karachi.
On September 1, 2016, China Railway Construction Corporation Limited and Bahria Town Group signed agreement for construction on Blue Line of Karachi Metrobus which will connect the town with downtown Karachi.
Controversies
2016
On 1 August 2016, Supreme Court, the top court of Pakistan ordered Bahria Town Karachi and Malir Development Authority to halt the construction work at 5,786 acres of land with an immediate effect. In an interim order, the apex court has ruled the land was illegally allotted to Bahria Town by the development authority.The court also directed National Accountability Bureau to complete its investigations and submit a report within two months. It also restrained the Sindh government from allotting any further land to Bahria Town.
2015
Pakistan Rangers claimed in a meeting that Bahria Town has been allotted 44,000 acres from Sindh government, while the amount of land in records is less than 44,000 acres.Bahria Town officials rejected the claim and report. One of the officials said that the land has been purchased from local.
2018
The Supreme Court decided to investigate the Bahria Town Karachi development in May 2018, citing massive irregularities in the way land was acquired. The apex court barred Bahria Town from selling or allotting land in the Bahria Town Karachi project after declaring that the allotment of land to the company by the Sindh government and a massive land swap with the Malir Development Authority was done illegally.2019
After 10 months of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court agreed to Bahria Town Karachi final settlement of Rs460 billion on 21 March 2019. Under the terms of the settlement, Bahria Town Karachi will have to pay the entire amount over seven years. In its ruling, the top court ordered Bahria Town Karachi to pay Rs25 billion by August 2019. From September 2019 onward, it will have to pay monthly instalments of Rs2.25bn for the next three years. If the company fails to deposit two instalments, Bahria Town Karachi will be considered a defaulter. The first tranche was successfully received on 30 August 2019.Under the terms of the settlement, only 16,896 acres of the total 24,571 acres has been validated by the Supreme Court - the other 7,675 acres are still disputed.