KABUL members and businessmen, Pajhwok Afghan News has reliably learned.
Mohammad Dawod Sultanzoy was appointed as Kabul City Mayor on April 1, 2020 in compliance to presidential decree. He issued two illegal orders since his appointment as mayor.
According to documents available with Pajhwok Afghan News, Sultanzoy issued special orders to a private company for the construction of a building on Education Ministry’s land in the limits of 12th Municipality District in Kabul city.
Pajhwok also learned that the new mayor issued special orders for some Wolesi Jirga members allowing them the construction of four walls on six acres land acquisitioned for green area by government.
The comes that President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani had repeatedly said that government was serious in thwarting land grabbing, but still concerned government officials complained against the grabbing of state lands and private properties by powerful individuals and said that land grabbing was an obstacle in land protection in the city and implementing state urban map.
Order issued for building construction on Education Ministry’s property:
One of the documents available with Pajhwok Afghan News head of the Ehshanullah Zwandai Company written an application to the Kabul Municipality and mentioned that he possessed all the legal documents of ownership, map approval, final sketch and order for the construction of the building, but Military Unit 409 of Kabul Municipality and 12 Municipality District Administration stopped him from work and harassed him. He hoped in the application that the municipality would address his problem.
In response to this application, Mayor Mohammad Daud Sultanzoy issued the following orders: “Observed! To the Concerned Municipality Administration (12th Municipality District) and Military Unit 409 in case the construction company has permission letter for its construction work don’t stopped them from its work on block 14.”
But few days later the Municipality Administration again issue fresh order and said: “On the bases of some considerations, you are being directed to refrain from any kind of activity until further order.” On the bases of this order work was stopped again.
Eng. Zmarai Kochai, head of the 12th Municipality District, told Pajhwok Afghan News the land was the property of the Ministry of Education (MoE) but Sifatullah Zwandai tried to build building on it.
He said this MoE property has several legal issues and legal documents from different sided reached to hundreds of pages.
Zmarai added: “There is ownership claim of this land from the past five years, the case had referred to the Attorney General Office (AGO) and the court should decide it.”
He said the construction work carried out by Ehsanullah Zwandai Company was stopped and a fence was erected around the construction site after the Municipality leadership criticized it.
But MoE Spokesperson Noria Nazhat said that currently properties did not fall under the ownership of state institutions but it became the ownership of the Urban and Land Authority.
“Currently a discussion is ongoing that properties don’t belong to institutions but it is ownership of the state and every institution could use the state property if they direly need it,” she said.
Permission for the construction of four walls on acquisitioned land:
According to a document available with Pajhwok Afghan News Naseebullah son of Awal Khan through an application letter requested the completion of the work of four walls on a six acres land situated in the limits of 8th Police District until the documentation for the permission of the work is completed. The land is registered under legal document on December 31, 2003 situated in the Qala-e-Chakhmandan of 8th Police District. However, it is said that the mentioned land is the ownership of four Wolesi Jirga members.
Kabul City Mayor Mohammad Daud Sultanzoy through an official order in the letter No. 161 on May 17, 2020 said: “Observed! The concerned Municipality District and Military Unit of 409 shall allow temporary work of walls until the completion of permission documents.”
And subsequently, on behalf of the Municipality District, a new report was sent to the Kabul Municipality due to lack of proof of ownership, clarity of acquisition and non-acquisition and how the status of the site was.
The Construction Control Department in its report to the Municipality leadership expressed its point of view as following: “After the site was closely observed the plot is on a grass land that connects the government facilities in two directions (the 8th Police Headquarters and the building of former Municipality District) and the other two adjoining areas are grass land and homes constructed illegally. Due to the efforts of municipality officials the construction of more illegal homes had been thwarted.”
The Construction Control Department further said: “Regarding the mentioned area the survey team had earlier collected information and dispatched to the Bagrami District in a letter No. 38 on March 23, 2020. The office document confirmed the land after a man named Ghulam Farooq, but regarding the approval of ownership and location, accurate information have not been provided. In addition, information regarding the approval of ownership which is under the jurisdiction of Land Authority and its acquisition which under the authority of Acquisition Department was not provided.”
But concerned authorities for the third time shared details regarding this issue with the mayor: “…..As mentioned earlier, there is no ownership and acquisition documents available regarding this site to decide the ownership. Secondly, the protection of the plot was not possible for the municipality personnel and the issue is again referred to your Excellency.”
The Mayor in a fresh order letter No. 632 on June 1, 2020 said: “On the bases of some considerations, you are advised to refrain from any kind of activity until the next order.” In this way work is again delayed.
The last part of this letter said: “On June 8, 2020 the site was visited in order to prevent illegal construction and it was found that applicant and his partners in the presence of their armed supporters tried to carry out construction but they were stopped and officials of the Control Department were verbally threaten by the opposite side.”
Pajhwok Afghan News reporter contacted Faeq Tasal, head of the 8th Municipality District but he refrained from providing information in this regard.
But a source in the 8th Municipality District that wished to go unnamed said the acquisitioned land has no original ownership document but has customized documents.
Mamour Ahmadzai, a lawmaker from Baghlan province, is one of the partners in this land. He said: “I have no land and dispute with the Municipality and I have nothing to do with the mentioned land as well.”
He said being a Wolesi Jirga member he had supporter nation-wide and he visited the site to help resolve the problem of one of his supporters.
“People who refer to me for the resolution of their problem forced me to go with them and address their issues,” he said.
Shapoor Hasanzoy, a lawmaker from Logar province is one of the partner in the six acres land in the 8th Municipality District, declined to accept his partnership in the land and said he heard about the land dispute in the area.
“I am not partner in the land nor I visited the site, I don’t know people who are partner in this land,” he said.
Niamatullah, the resident of Kabul, said most of the land usurped with the support of Municipality personnel.
Hashmat Naseri, spokesperson for the Ministry of Urban Affairs, in response to the authority of Mayor to give order for the construction of stat acquisition land said the responsibility of Urban Affairs Ministry falls on areas out of master plan and lands inside master plan fall under the authority of Municipalities.
He said over 5,000 acres of grabbed land had been returned in the centre and districts and the process to return more grabbed lands was underway.
Naseri said a list of 15,832 land grabbers was ready and shared with judiciary one year earlier.
A number of lawmakers accused Kabul City mayor of illegal activities and embezzlement of funds allocated for vulnerable persons and demanded the mayor should be summoned to the house for explanation over these accusations.
Monawar Shah Bahaduri, a lawmaker from Herat province, said millions of afghanis allocated for the distribution of free bread and the amount had been embezzled.
He alleged Kabul mayor committed other illegal activities besides embezzlement in the funds allocated for vulnerable person and he should be summoned to the house.
Mayor viewpoint on illegal orders:
Kabul City Mayor Dawod Sultanzoy told Pajhwok Afghan News “The information that we first received were wrong and the order that was issued, I have investigated how this order was issued and in the light of which information, and I am still not sure if I had issued this order and for the same reason I want to investigate.”
He said when he got informed that one order had been issue for the construction of a building in the 12th Municipality District and one in the 8th Municipality District, he moved and issued orders for work to be stopped.
When asked that the first orders were yours, said: “No, I ordered investigation that how the first orders were issued and issued orders for the construction work to be stopped.”
When asked that first orders and signatures were fake said there is need for investigation and the first orders allowing construction work had been invalidated and has no legality.
Referring to the free bread distribution process, Sultanzoy said the entire 3,500 personnel of municipality was involved in the free bread distribution process and he personally monitored the process.
He said besides Municipality personnel, local council, influential persons and civil society monitored the process which ended transparently.
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