Kabul Municipality is owed millions of Afs by private and government institutions despite repeated reminders. A Killid investigation:
On the basis of documents handed over to Killid, Lego Global construction company owes the municipality 779 million USD
Kabul Municipality is owed millions of Afs by private and government institutions despite repeated reminders. A Killid investigation:
On the basis of documents handed over to Killid, Lego Global construction company owes the municipality 779 million USD, Onyx Construction Company owes 514 million USD for changing the land use from residential to commercial, and Gulbahar business centre money for the land on which its premises are located.
Kabul Municipality, which has to raise its own resources, has not only written to the defaulters but also to the Attorney General’s (AGs) Office, special envoy to the president for good governance as well as National Security Council (NSC). But there has been no response. In fact, the municipality which has had to go to court, has lost cases and had to file appeals.
Lego
The municipality accuses the construction company of not paying dues since 2004 in a project headed by Sultan Mahmood Ghaznawi. Lego bought some 700 jeribs of land north of Kabul airport, and resold them to individual plot owners.
The land had belonged to Mohammad Eqbal son of Ramzan, and was located in Merjan township. But in the beginning of 2007, a new township was inaugurated under the name of Zaher Shah Mena.
The new township was challenged by the Ministry of Urban Affairs and the case wound its way through three courts. The moot question was: how did Kabul Municipality process the application for a new township when it was not the owner of the land? Some municipality officials had even attended the inauguration function.
Syed Nezamudin Wahdat, the head of properties department in Kabul Municipality, is frank. “Some individuals may have abused the address of Kabul Municipality and breached the law,” he says, but did not make more specific allegations.
Regarding the township, the complaint is that Lego has not transferred money owed even on selling plots to new owners. Kabul Municipality has warned it will register new ownerships only when it has received the money owed.
Wahdat rubbished Lego’s claim that it is short of cash to make the payment. Meanwhile, 86 new owners of plots have registered independently with the municipality.
According to Wahdat, there are 1,918 residential plots in the project and Syed Mohammad Hashem, head of Logo Global, should pay the outstanding amount.
Lego spokespersons were unwilling to talk to Killid. Lego head promised to speak but then ducked the several attempts made to arrange a meeting.
On Nov 1, 2013, the district court in the 4th District, which was reviewing the case filed by the municipality against Lego, ruled in favour of the former.
“The company of Lego Global should transfer the price of plots based the letter number 1039 dated late June 2012 of Kabul municipality to government account based on the price set by Kabul Municipality as per square metre and the Kabul Municipality should issue an interim document of ownership considering the receipt of money so the Secretariat is ordered to send the dossier to its main sources,” the order stated.
Officials in the NSC say Mir Mohammad Anwar Sadat, head of government cases was assigned the case on Nov 14. This is two weeks after Killid was given the documents by sources in the municipality.
Onyx
The construction company has not paid dues on six projects that include the building housing the Azizi and Millie Banks, Setara e Azizi, Azizi Plaza, Bakhtawar Palace, Rahmat Plaza and Azizi Centre.
The money owed is for the permission given for change in land use.
Documents with Killid indicate Onyx has agreed to pay the money in installments to the president’s office because the amount is huge.
Former vice president Qaseem Fahim has issued the decree ordering that the company can pay the money in three installments. Onyx paid some 243 million Afs (3.6 million USD) as first installment in the bank.
However, an order dated July 29, 2013, passed by the council of ministers that exempted investors above 10 million USD from paying for changing the use of residential or agricultural land to commercial land was used by Onyx to discontinue payments to the municipality.
Mohammad Tareq Deldar, a deputy director of Onyx, insists the construction firm has not done anything illegal. However, Kabul Municipality argues the order was not retrospective. “The law does not go back,” an official told Killid.
Deldar showed Killid a copy of an order from the primary court in support of Onyx’s claim. The Nov 26, 2014, order states, “For two claimants Ajmal Momand son of Habib Rahman the head of public relations of Onyx and Ghulam Farooq (the representative of government and Kabul Municipality) regarding paying the rest of the money … Onyx is exempted since the issue of bill number July 29, 2013, by the ministers’ council.”
There are signatures of Baseer Ahmad Nesar and Abdul Qodoos, members of the judicial commission as well as the signature of Khuja Ataullah Sidiqi, head of the civil rights court in the 2nd District.
Killid was refused more information by the civil rights court and the Supreme Court.
Talking on the phone to Killid, on Nov 2, Chief Justice Syed Yusuf Halim said the decision of the primary and appeal courts were not final but there would be a third level of appeal. According to him, this was not a public court, and hence the media could not be present. A week later when Killid telephoned Chief Justice Halim he said the court had overturned the judgement and ordered Onyx to pay the money.
Gulbahar
The business centre is located opposite Kabul Municipality. Killid sought interviews with officials. An assistant director stonewalled saying he needed time to collect all the information before fixing a meeting.
Others
The list of the municipality’s defaulters is long. Dubai Market owes 880,000 USD; car park at 62,700 USD; Shirpoor 2.9 million USD. There are also government ministries including the Ministry of Interior Affairs; and the National Directorate of Security which owes the municipality 26 million USD. Also, there are hundreds of individual defaulters and small private companies.
The municipality has repeatedly written to the national unity government. “The outstanding money is included in the revenue plan for the current fiscal year, and if not got the municipality would be in serious financial difficulties …,” says one letter to the government.
Tawab Ghorzang, the government spokesperson did not reply to Killid’s questions.
The municipality’s letter number 319-318/212-213 dated July 22, 2015, seeking help with recovered outstanding dues was sent to Ahmad Zia Masoud, special envoy to the president. There was no response.
The municipality, which has no external budget line, depends for its income on what it generates. Abdul Wakil Atayee, chief of the revenue department, says the main sources of income are markets, sanitation services, transport including drivers’ licenses, land and leases on shops and hotels. However, corruption eats into the revenue.
Mohammad Aslam Akramai, the financial assistant in the municipality told Killid only 35 percent of cleaning fees reaches its coffers.
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