Fact-check: How much is the Al-Qadir University land worth today?

The land on which the Al-Qadir University is located is worth less than Rs10 million, claims an aide of former prime minister Imran Khan. The University is headed by Khan and his wife.

The claim is false.

Claim

On May 12, Dr Iftikhar Durrani, a politician from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), alleged on ARY News that the land donated by a property tycoon for Imran Khan’s Al-Qadir University Trust was worth only Rs10 million, and not billions of rupees.

“This is a barren land, with no water,” Durrani said on the show, “People are saying it is worth Rs60 billion but it is not even worth Rs10 million. You can go see for yourself.”

The show has been viewed over 18,000 times on YouTube, to date.

Fact

Local revenue officials and property dealers estimate the price of the 458 kanals and 58 square feet of land, which was donated to the University in 2019, to fall between Rs100 million to nearly Rs300 million. Hence, the claim that the land is worth less than Rs10 million is incorrect.

The Al-Qadir University is located in the Sohawa area of Punjab.

An official of the tehsil administration, who spoke to Geo Fact Check on the condition of anonymity, said that the land records of the Sohawa tehsil show that the land was bought for around Rs40-Rs50 million in 2019.

“Over 458 kanals of land was purchased from several sellers,” added the official, over the phone, “Yes, it is barren but it is connected to the Grand Trunk (GT) road, so it can’t be less than Rs10 million.”

Geo Fact Check then reached out to Musa Shah, a patwari (land revenue official), in tehsil Sohawa, who said that other lands in the area, where the Al-Qadir Trust is located, are worth around Rs250,000 per kanal in the market, at the moment.

By that rate, the price of the University’s land would come to approximately Rs114 million.

While Shoukat, a real estate agent at Tahqeeq Property Dealers in Sohawa told Geo Fact Check, as per his estimate the market rate could be anywhere between Rs200,000-Rs600,000 per kanal.

As per his estimate, over 458 kanals of land in the area would be worth between Rs91 million to Rs274 million.

Land for the Al-Qadir University Trust, a project of former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, was obtained from a property tycoon in 2019. Khan is currently facing graft allegations related to the land transfer.

Additional reporting by Muhammad Binyameen Iqbal.

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