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Capital Development Authority (CDA) – Extractive Governance and Exploitation of the Public

Capital Development Authority (CDA) – Extractive Governance and Exploitation of the Public

Capital Development Authority (CDA) – Extractive Governance and Exploitation of the Public. 2

The New Blue Area Incident 2

The Distinction Between a Tax and a Fee. 3

The Public Notice Requirement 4

The Root Cause: Centralized Bureaucracy and Overlapping Mandates. 4

Capital Development Authority (CDA) – Extractive Governance and Exploitation of the Public

Imagine driving into a newly developed commercial district to drop off a colleague or pick up coffee, only to be stopped by a toll collector demanding an “entry fee”, essentially a tax disguised as a fee, just for using the service road[1]. This is the reality for a large proportion of people living in Pakistan today.

In a constitutional democracy, public authorities exist to facilitate the citizens who fund them. Roadways, service lanes, and public parks are built with taxpayer money to enable commerce and transit. Yet across Pakistan, authorities such as the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), and various provincial highway and municipal authorities view public infrastructure not as a necessity for the public to lead their lives, but rather as a cash generator.

When these charges are questioned in court, an age-old drama unfolds; authorities point fingers at one another, cite unpublished internal rules, and leave the public confused, trapped in a reality where no single entity is ever held accountable.

The New Blue Area Incident

A striking illustration of this administrative breakdown recently played out before the Islamabad High Court (IHC). A petition was filed challenging a Rs 100 fee collected from anyone entering the service road of New Blue Area, Islamabad’s most recent commercial hot spot housing corporate offices, shops, and restaurants. The ‘parking fee’ was levied regardless of whether the driver was parking or merely passing through. Therefore, InDrive drivers, or other cab-hailing service........

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