KABUL (Pajhwok): Owners of 521 flats in Sheikh Zayed Township in Kabul are at risk of losing their homes over unpaid instalments and are asking the government to give them a final opportunity to settle their outstanding payments before eviction.
However, the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MoUDH) maintains that the owners were repeatedly warned and offered a 10 per cent discount to pay their outstanding instalments, but they failed to do so and are now required to vacate their flats.
Sheikh Zayed Township is located in the Qasaba area of Kabul’s 15th municipal district. Its foundation stone was laid in 2013, and it was built with financial assistance from the United Arab Emirates.
According to the MoUDH, the township was inaugurated in 2018, and its flats were sold to people in instalments by the previous government.
Mubashir Azam, a representative of the township’s residents, told Pajhwok that the ministry had decided to repossess 521 flats whose owners had paid less than 50 per cent of the agreed instalments.
He added that most of the current owners were ordinary people who had lived in the township for years.
“We do not deny that instalment payments have been delayed, but in many cases, the delays have resulted from economic difficulties, unemployment and declining household incomes,” Azam explained.
According to him, representatives of some residential blocks had failed to provide residents with accurate and timely information about their instalments. As a result, some owners became aware of the seriousness of the issue only after the decision to repossess their flats had been made.
Azam further noted that many of the flats had been bought and sold several times over the years, and most of their current owners were ordinary families living in the township.
He pointed out that many flat owners were ready to pay their outstanding instalments, but under the ministry’s current order, they were not being issued payment slips.
The residents’ representative also revealed that the proposal to repossess the 521 flats had been submitted to the leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) without any delegation having previously visited the township to assess residents’ actual circumstances, examine the reasons for delayed payments and determine their willingness to pay.
He stressed that residents’ circumstances should have been assessed firsthand and their concerns heard before such an important decision was taken.
Azam disclosed that on 12 October this year, an initial list of 19 flats had been drawn up for eviction and an order had been issued to carry out the evictions.
He warned that unless the owners’ problems were addressed promptly, their homes could be vacated and repossessed.
With winter approaching, he expressed concern that hundreds of families could become homeless. If the eviction decision were implemented, he added, the resulting harm to these families would be difficult to remedy.
Azam emphasised that the residents were not asking for their instalments to be waived, reduced or cancelled. Instead, they wanted a final opportunity for owners who were able and willing to pay.
“Our request is that owners who are ready to pay their instalments be given an opportunity to increase their payments to more than 50 per cent before their homes are taken away,” he urged.
He further argued that if some owners failed to use the opportunity and remained unwilling to pay their instalments, decisions concerning them should be made in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations.
He called on the relevant government institutions to take residents’ financial circumstances and difficulties into account, review the eviction and repossession issue from Islamic and legal perspectives, and suspend evictions until a final decision was reached.
Another resident, Qand Agha, revealed that he had bought a flat in the township two years ago but was now facing the threat of repossession.
“I do not live in Kabul and had to rent out my flat because of my circumstances. I have now learned that it is to be repossessed. We were not informed of any warnings. The government should give us another opportunity to pay our outstanding instalments,” he appealed.
Several other residents of the township expressed similar concerns.
However, Mawlawi Shah Ghasi Zahid, director of publications and spokesman for the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, told Pajhwok that the owners of the 521 flats had been repeatedly warned to pay their outstanding instalments before being ordered to vacate their homes.
He explained that the owners had also been offered a 10 per cent discount if they paid their instalments on time, but they had failed to do so.
Zahid maintained that the owners of the 521 flats were now required to vacate their homes.
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