QAU wants permission to use its land for 'commercial purposes'.

ISLAMABAD -- Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad has asked the Capital Development Authority to allow the university to use a certain portion of its land for commercial purposes, which are otherwise prohibited as the land leased out was meant for educational purposes alone.

It came as a latest development in an ongoing tussle between CDA and QAU over an under-construction Bhara Kahu Bypass project for which land swap was required as about 200 kanals of land belonging to the university is falling in the alignment of the said project.

A 20-point charter of demands has been extended by the university representatives in a joint working group of both organizations, which was formed to settle the dispute amicably by university syndicate.

According to a wishful list of demands, the university management wants to utilize a certain portion of its land for mixed use on a commercial basis on which they want to build community centre, petrol pump, residential complex, and education city.

The management also wanted permission to execute aforementioned commercial ventures through public-private partnership for which, interestingly CDA itself is not entitled under its ordinance and such an attempt in the case of the northern strip of sector E-11 had already been scrapped by the apex court in the past.

The university also wants to retain the ownership of land allocated from its land bank for the Bhara Kahu Bypass and want to get control over its right of way as well for which no logical reason is given in the document.

On the other side, the management wants issuance of allotment of 225 kanals of land on QAU's name in swap within 24 hours in addition to the leveling and fencing of the said land on CDA's expense within three days once the agreement will be reached.

It is also demanded to construct an underpass on Shahdara road instead of the planned flyover while the university also wants from the city managers to build 24 feet wide service roads on either side of the bypass in addition to a mini underpass to give...