On this page
What it actually is
Margalla Enclave is not a private housing society that went to the CDA for a no-objection certificate. It is a joint venture in which the CDA is a partner. Dawn, 11 February 2025 reported the commercial shape of it: CDA 55% / DHA 45% share of the developed plots on roughly 10,000 kanal in the Kuri area. That structure is the project’s single strongest feature, and it is the reason the usual first question about an Islamabad scheme — does it have a NOC? — does not quite fit here.
The land sits in CDA Zone IV, on Jinnah Avenue, which older maps and older people still call Kuri Road. The neighbours named in the Pak-EPA assessment are Bahria Enclave, Park View City, Park Enclave and Bani Gala. DHA’s own site says the scheme is “at the foothills of Margalla Hills”. Legally it is in Zone IV, outside the Zone III national park. The Pak-EPA assessment puts the site at 33°41′46.00″N, 73°10′40.58″E and names the Margalla Enclave Botanical Garden as the project’s northern edge, and Dawn reported on 4 September 2026 that the 3.8 km link road from Park Road to the scheme passes through Zone III, the protected zone. We found no published distance to the hills, so check the ground yourself before you pay for a view.
The contradiction on DHA’s own homepage
This is worth seeing before anything else, because it tells you how to read every other claim about this project. On 9 September 2026, the official site’s hero banner said:
POSSESSION DELIVERED IN JUST 11 MONTHS
Scroll down the same page to question six of DHA’s own FAQ:
Is it a developed project or non-developed? — Under-development.
Both statements are DHA’s, on one page, on one day. They are not really in conflict: DHA held a first possession ceremony in May 2026 (its two videos are dated 22 May 2026 and name no block or street; dealer pages say selected ME-2 streets), and the scheme as a whole genuinely is still under development. But a marketing line about eleven months and a one-word answer that says “under-development” will land very differently on a buyer who reads only one of them. Most sites reproduce the banner. This one reproduces both.
How big it is
The number almost nobody publishes is the denominator: how many plots exist in total. It comes from the Environmental Impact Assessment prepared for the DHA I-R and CDA joint venture and lodged with the Ministry of Climate Change — a 183-page document that no dealer site, property portal or news outlet appears to cite. Table 3.1 gives the breakdown.
| Category | Size | Plots |
|---|---|---|
| Residential 25′×45′ | 125 sq yd · 5 Marla | 1,709 |
| Residential 35′×65′ | ~250 sq yd · 10 Marla | 2,634 |
| Residential 50′×90′ | 500 sq yd · 1 Kanal | 2,647 |
| Apartment parcels | four footprint sizes | 128 |
| Commercial plots | incl. 2 petrol pumps, a hotel plot and a mega mall | 389 |
| Residential total | 6,990 | |
| Grand total, all categories | 7,507 | |
Pak-EPA Environmental Impact Assessment, Margalla Enclave Project, Zone-IV Islamabad — prepared for the DHA I-R / CDA Joint Venture, hosted on environment.gov.pk. Open the PDF.
Keep that grand total in mind the next time you are told that only a handful of plots remain.
The masterplan against CDA’s own standards
The same assessment, Table 3.2, sets the scheme’s land use against the CDA’s published planning standards. Three lines comply outright. Commercial is under the 5% cap only if its parking is left out (4.91% for plots alone, 6.04% with parking). Two lines fall below the CDA minimum.
The master plan sheet, a dealer-circulated copy. The full master plan, sector by sector.
| Land use | Kanal | Share | CDA standard | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential (plots, condominiums, parking) | 4,506.59 | 45.07% | 50% maximum | within |
| Commercial (plots and parking) | 604.11 | 6.04% | 5% maximum | plots alone 4.91% — just under the cap |
| Public buildings (EIA label: “Public Parking”) | 467.00 | 4.67% | 5% minimum | below the CDA minimum |
| Open and green (parks, nullah, lake) | 1,591.86 | 15.92% | 15% minimum | within |
| Existing graveyard | 15.78 | 0.16% | 2% minimum | below the CDA minimum |
| Roads | 2,814.66 | 28.15% | 23% minimum | within |
Pak-EPA Environmental Impact Assessment, Margalla Enclave Project, Zone-IV Islamabad — prepared for the DHA I-R / CDA Joint Venture, hosted on environment.gov.pk. Open the PDF.
Public parking comes in at 4.67% against a 5% minimum, and the existing graveyard at 0.16% against a 2% minimum. Neither is a scandal, and a graveyard allocation is a strange thing to hold a developer to in a scheme built around an existing village. But they are on the record, in the project’s own environmental filing, and a site that only printed the four compliant lines would be doing something other than informing you.
Timeline
15 Jan – 14 Feb 2025
First booking window
Opens for 5 & 10 Marla and 1 Kanal residential plus commercial, at launch prices. Property-portal reports put the down payment at 15%; we found no DHA document with it.
24 Feb 2025
First computerised balloting
Held at Jacaranda Family Club, DHA Phase-2. Roughly 47,000 applications were reported against 125, 250 and 500 sq yd plots.
Q4 2025
Second booking round opens
At revised prices roughly 30% above launch, by dealer copies of the schedule. Dealer sites report that the close moved to 10 November 2025; we have not seen a DHA notice.
20 Nov 2025
Second balloting + digital commercial auction
Held at the Jinnah Convention Centre, with a digital auction of commercial plots (The News, 21 November 2025). Dealer sites add a 1:00 PM start, results in December 2025 and a 24 December down-payment date; we have not seen DHA notices for those.
22 May 2026
First possession ceremony
DHA published two videos of a first possession ceremony on this date. They name no block, street or handover date; one says it was live from the Lake District. Dealer pages say it covered selected streets of ME-2 on 21 May 2026, and DHA has not published the list. DHA’s project page says “possession delivered in just 11 months”. That figure matches neither ballot date, so we quote it as DHA’s claim, not as our own arithmetic.
15 Sep 2026
Third balloting (Launch III)
DHA’s launch video gave 4 September 2026 as the last date to apply, and DHA streamed the draw on 15 September. The form PDF is dated 14 August 2026. Results are not published as a list: each applicant searches by CNIC and application number on DHA’s Launch III page.
Three rounds, three prices
DHA has balloted this scheme three times and raised the price each time. The 3rd-round figures are on DHA’s own form; the first two survive only as dealer copies and are marked as such.
| Round | Drawn | 5 Marla | 10 Marla | 1 Kanal | Down |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (launch) | 24 Feb 2025, Jacaranda Family Club | PKR 1.2 Cr* | 2.2 Cr* | 4.2 Cr* | 15% |
| 2 | 20 Nov 2025, Jinnah Convention Centre | PKR 1.55 Cr* | 3.0 Cr* | 5.6 Cr* | 15% |
| 3 (Launch III) | 15 Sep 2026 | PKR 2.14 Cr | 4.20 Cr | 7.29 Cr | 20% |
* dealer-published copies of DHA’s earlier schedules (Sky Marketing, 12 Feb 2025; Amanah Builders, 25 Apr 2026; Milkiyat, 9 Oct 2026). Round 3: DHA application form dated 14 Aug 2026. Exact rupee figures and the per-yard arithmetic are on the price list; dates on the balloting page.
Two labels you will meet on dealer pages and not on DHA’s: “Sector J-2” for the blocks, and “CDA NOC approved”. Neither appears on any official page we read on 1 November 2026, and CDA’s housing-schemes page has no Margalla Enclave entry. What the record actually holds.
What went wrong along the way
18 January 2025 — Villagers’ protest over compensation and land records
Residents of Kurri and Raiyara/Rehara villages publicly protested, demanding a revised layout for the model village, a firm infrastructure timeline, compensation before CDA took possession, and correction of a land-record error — Raiyara recorded as 56 kanal against an actual 356 kanal. They threatened to block plot sales. The first ballot went ahead five weeks later. We found no follow-up reporting confirming how, or whether, the demands were settled.
Source: The News, 19 January 2025
February 2026 — The WWI memorial: a relocation, not a demolition
Claims circulated that a 1914 memorial to Subedar Ghulam Ali near Rehara village had been demolished for the project. A fact-check found it was moved roughly 100 to 200 metres with the consent of the family — an affidavit from his great-grandson — for reinstallation near the Northern Bypass. Worth knowing as an example of how fast a false claim about this project can travel.
The legal question, answered carefully
People search for “Margalla Enclave NOC” because they have been burned, or know someone who has. The honest answer has three parts.
First: the CDA is a partner in this scheme, not an external approver, so there is no NOC of the kind a private society would hold. Asking for one is asking the wrong question.
Second: we fetched CDA’s live register of illegal and unapproved housing schemes on 9 September 2026 and searched it. Not listed (re-checked 4 November 2026). The register does name several other “Margalla” schemes, among them Margalla Gardens on Lehtrar Road, Margalla Valley/Al-Mustafa Enclave on Murree Road and Margalla North Housing Scheme in C-17; none of them is Margalla Enclave. The register is here. That is a real check on a live official list, and it is the strongest thing anyone can honestly say.
Third, and this is the part that matters: not appearing on a list of illegal schemes is not the same as an approval certificate, and none of it protects you from the ordinary risk, which is not the scheme — it is the person selling you a file. See the checks to run before you pay anyone.
DHA’s own 16 questions, checked against the form
The project site answers sixteen questions. Most answers are one line. Here is each one in brief, next to what the 3rd-ballot form and the public record add, so you can see where DHA’s line is complete and where it is not.
| DHA’s question | DHA’s answer, in brief | What the form and the record add |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Where is the project? | At the foothills of the Margalla Hills, Zone 4, on Jinnah Avenue. | Jinnah Avenue is the old Kuri Road. The EIA gives the site’s coordinates, and legally the scheme is in Zone IV, outside the Zone III national park. We found no published distance to the hills. Location, access and distances. |
| 2. Which plot sizes? | Residential 125, 250 and 500 sq yd; commercial 100, 133.25, 200 and 500 sq yd, all by ballot. | Same sizes on the form. DHA’s FAQ gives no counts; the EIA does: 1,709 5 Marla, 2,634 10 Marla, 2,647 1 Kanal and 389 commercial. |
| 3. Who can apply? | Anyone with a valid CNIC or NICOP. | Clause 2 says the same. Clause 1 adds that there is no cap on applications per person, and each one costs a new processing fee. |
| 4. How do I get the form? | An online application will be created. | A PDF form for the 3rd ballot, dated 14 August 2026, exists; we read all 19 clauses in the application form, clause by clause. |
| 5. How do I pay? | Pay order or demand draft in favour of “Margalla Enclave” (NTN F907422-6), KuickPay online, or over the counter at any Askari Bank branch with a challan from DHA’s website. | Every route ends in DHA’s own account. A dealer asking for the ballot fee in cash or in his name is the red flag. Payee and NTN details. |
| 6. Is it developed? | “Under-development.” | The same page’s banner says possession in eleven months; DHA presents both at different scales (see above). Development status, block by block. |
| 7. Which amenities? | Lake District and sports, Bazar-e-Bozorg and malls, botanical garden and parks, education, hospitals, roads and drainage, 24/7 security. | These are plans. The land-use table above shows how much ground the masterplan gives each; the 500-kanal lake the EIA describes is planned, not built; the EIA records a small natural lake already on site. The Lake District. |
| 8. Can I pay in instalments? | Lump sum up to a 3-year plan. | 1, 2 and 3-year plans, 20% down within 30 days of the ballot (27 days on the 2-year plan, as printed). Every plan in rupees. |
| 9. Is there a lump-sum rebate? | No; the lump-sum price “already incorporates the rebate”. | In rupees the lump sum is about 14.3% below the 3-year total on every size: Rs 21,434,375 against Rs 25,000,000 for 5 Marla. |
| 10. Can I change my plan? | No, once selected it cannot be changed. | Clause 7 says the same, so the choice is final on the day you pay the down payment. |
| 11. Is there a late-payment surcharge? | Yes. | The form (clause 9) leaves the rate to the management and DHA has not published it. Two consecutive missed instalments count as default; after a 30-day notice the allotment is cancelled and the refund loses 20% (clause 10). |
| 12. How do I contact DHA about the project? | A UAN with an extension and two mobile numbers. | Those numbers, with DHA’s other desks, are on the helpline page. |
| 13. Processing fee, residential? | Rs 10,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 for 125, 250 and 500 sq yd, non-refundable. | Matches the form. Clause 3: the fee is forfeited even if DHA rejects the application. |
| 14. Processing fee, commercial? | Rs 30,000, Rs 40,000, Rs 50,000, Rs 60,000 for 100, 133.25, 200 and 500 sq yd. | Matches the form. Commercial prices and floors. |
| 15. Who answers project questions? | An email address for project information. | We link DHA’s page rather than copy the address, so you always get the current one. |
| 16. Who fixes portal problems? | A separate email address for the online portal. | Same: open the source link below. |
DHA, Margalla Enclave project site, FAQ section, read 4 November 2026. Open it. Form: DHA Application-Form.pdf dated 14 August 2026.
Questions people ask
Who owns DHA Margalla Enclave?
No single owner: it is a joint venture of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and DHA Islamabad-Rawalpindi. Dawn, 11 February 2025 reported the deal as CDA 55% / DHA 45% share of the developed plots on roughly 10,000 kanal in the Kuri area. Applications, ballots and payments run through DHA’s own Margalla Enclave portal and application form.
Where is Margalla Enclave located?
In CDA Zone IV, Islamabad, on the Jinnah Avenue corridor that older maps call Kuri Road. The Pak-EPA EIA filed for the joint venture gives the site as 33°41′46.00″N, 73°10′40.58″E. DHA describes the scheme as at the foothills of the Margalla Hills; legally it is in Zone IV, outside the Zone III Margalla Hills National Park.
Is Margalla Enclave CDA approved?
The CDA is a partner in the scheme, not an outside approver, so there is no NOC of the kind a private society holds. The scheme was not on CDA’s live register of illegal and unapproved housing schemes when we searched it on 9 September 2026. That says nothing about any one file, so verify the plot itself before you pay.
How many plots are in Margalla Enclave?
7,507 plots in total, 6,990 of them residential, according to the Pak-EPA Environmental Impact Assessment filed for the joint venture.
Last checked . First published .
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