Zaraj Housing Scheme — the Cleanest Badge, and Its Gap
If you want the least complicated approval story on the Islamabad Expressway, this is probably it. That is not the same as no open questions.
Among the private schemes on the Islamabad Expressway corridor, Zaraj has the least complicated file. Layout plan approved, NOC issued, no cancellation, no illegal-list entry. We will say that plainly, because on this site a clean record deserves to be reported as clearly as a dirty one.
Two things sit alongside it. The scheme’s layout has been revised three times since its last NOC. And CDA served it a show-cause notice on 18 May 2026.
What the record actually says
| Fact | What the source says |
|---|---|
| CDA register badge | LOP Approved · NOC Issued — no cancellation, and not on CDA’s illegal-schemes list. |
| Layout revisions | The plan has been revised in 2013, 2020 and 2023, following the original 2004–2005 approvals. |
| The NOC date | The NOC on record dates from 2005. Three later expansions of the layout have not been matched by a revised NOC. The badge reflects the original. |
| Notice, 18 May 2026 | CDA states a 27.12-Kanal shortfall in the public land the scheme was required to transfer to it, out of 707.42 Kanal reserved. Ten days to comply, with cancellation of the NOC named as the consequence. |
That combination — a clean badge, a stale NOC, a live notice — is not unique to Zaraj. It is the pattern across this whole city; see CDA’s 2025–26 enforcement wave.
What FBR values it at — the number that decides your tax
Advance tax under §236K and §236C is computed on FBR’s notified value, not on what you pay. Almost nobody publishes these per area, so here they are, with the notification they come from.
| Category | Notified value |
|---|---|
| Open plot, with possession (current) | Rs 17,500/sq yd — S.R.O. 644(I)/2026, 16 Apr 2026 |
| How it got here | Rs 50,000 (S.R.O. 2392(I)/2025, Dec 2025) → Rs 25,000 (S.R.O. 163(I)/2026, 23 Feb 2026) → superseded by S.R.O. 644(I)/2026, which set 17,500. From December to April the notified value fell by roughly two thirds. |
A correction to this page, made the day it was published. We first printed the February figure of Rs 25,000 as current. S.R.O. 644(I)/2026 supersedes that notification. A notified value falling from 50,000 to 17,500 in four months cuts the advance tax on a transaction to roughly a third — and lowers the floor under every declared price in the scheme. Work your own number on the plot cost calculator.
The honest part
- The NOC is older than the scheme is. Three layout revisions since 2013 with no revised NOC means the approval on record describes a smaller, earlier Zaraj than the one being sold today. Ask which blocks are inside the 2005 NOC.
- The 27.12-Kanal shortfall is not a paperwork nicety. Public land owed to CDA is the mechanism by which roads, parks and amenities get built and maintained. CDA named NOC cancellation as the consequence.
- Possession versus file applies here as everywhere: confirm which one you are buying, in writing.
What to ask before you pay
- “Which layout revision is my block on, and is it inside the 2005 NOC?”
- “Has the 18 May 2026 notice been complied with?” Ask the society, and then check CDA’s register page again yourself.
- “Is this plot mortgaged with CDA?”
Against Bahria Enclave, plainly
Zaraj sits on the eastern Expressway side; Bahria Enclave sits on the western green edge past Bani Gala. On approval paperwork Zaraj is the tidier story, and buyers who value that above everything should weigh it seriously. On liquidity and on price transparency, the Enclave corridor is deeper — sixteen sectors trading daily, with a price sweep we publish with its own date.
The rest of the city, read the same way
Same four things on every one: CDA’s register badge, the notices attached to it, FBR’s notified value, and dated asking prices.
- DHA Islamabad-Rawalpindi
- Naval Anchorage Islamabad
- B-17 Multi Gardens
- G-13, G-14 and G-15
- Gulberg Greens & Residencia
- Bani Gala
- Lehtrar Road & Simly Dam Road
- Chak Shahzad
- Bahria Town Rawalpindi
- Park View City Islamabad
- F-15 and E-16
- Faisal Town & Faisal Hills
- Top City-1
And the story that runs through all of them: CDA’s 2025–26 enforcement wave.
Plots available in every Bahria Enclave sector — and we buy as well as sell
From Sector A’s finished streets to Sector O’s entry tickets — 5 Marla to 4 Kanal, file to allotment to possession — we keep live options in all sixteen sectors, plus DHA Margalla Enclave ballots, files and resales. Buying, selling, or exchanging: one WhatsApp message gets you today’s real options, with verification built in before any token moves.
Zaraj, on the record
Yes — CDA's register shows an approved layout plan and an issued NOC, with no cancellation and no entry on the illegal-schemes list. It is genuinely one of the cleaner files on that corridor. Two caveats belong next to it: the NOC on record dates from 2005 while the layout has been revised in 2013, 2020 and 2023, and CDA served the scheme a show-cause notice on 18 May 2026.
A shortfall of 27.12 Kanal in the public land the scheme was required to transfer to CDA, out of 707.42 Kanal reserved for the purpose. CDA gave ten days to comply and named cancellation of the NOC as the consequence. Public land is how roads, parks and amenities get delivered, so this is a service-level question as much as a legal one.
S.R.O. 163(I)/2026, dated 23 February 2026, moved the notified value for Zaraj open plots from Rs 50,000 to Rs 25,000 per square yard. FBR revalues areas up and down; this one went down. It roughly halves the advance tax on a transaction and lowers the floor under declared prices in the scheme.
Weighing Zaraj against this corridor?
One message with your budget and your build timeline. You get a straight comparison, including the case for the one I am not selling.