ISLAMABAD: After nearly four decades of delays, the Capital Development Authority has finally accelerated efforts to complete the long stalled E 12 sector, raising fresh hopes among more than 4,000 allottees waiting for possession of their plots since 1989.

According to official sources, CDA Chairman retired Lt Sohail Ashraf has directed the engineering and land directorates to treat E 12 as a top priority project and resolve all pending hurdles immediately after Eidul Azha. A high level meeting focused solely on the troubled sector is expected to take place in the coming days as the civic agency attempts to revive one of Islamabad’s most controversial housing schemes.

Sources said the CDA chief instructed officials to clear genuine compensation claims of local landowners without delay while launching strict action against encroachers occupying parts of the sector. Officials informed the chairman that two sub sectors are largely under CDA possession, while another remains partially occupied and E 12 4 is still facing severe adverse possession issues with almost no visible development.

The delay has become a symbol of CDA’s failure to deliver promised housing projects in Islamabad. Despite being launched with a commitment to hand over developed plots within two years, E 12 has remained incomplete for 37 years. During the same period, private housing societies rapidly expanded across the capital, forcing thousands of allottees to continue waiting as property prices skyrocketed.

Partial infrastructure work has already been carried out in some areas, including sub base road construction, but overall progress has remained painfully slow. Since the development of D 12 in 2008, the CDA has failed to fully develop any major residential sector, worsening the shortage of affordable housing in the federal capital.

Officials said the current CDA management is now under pressure to show visible progress not only in E 12 but also in stalled sectors including E 13, F 13 and D 13, where unresolved compensation disputes and delayed balloting continue to block possession and development work. Sources claimed the authority hopes to break the long standing deadlock and restore public confidence through rapid action in the months ahead.