Blown fuses: Cash-strapped civic body to pay Rs8 billion for light bulbs

LED project gets go ahead despite being questioned by govt, independent sources.

ISLAMABAD:

The capital managers have decided to execute a multi-billion-rupee plan that has been panned by all and sundry within the Planning Commission and Transparency International (TI), The Express Tribune has learnt.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Farkhand Iqbal seems bent on getting the wheels turning on a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) project.

Under the project, around 65,000 conventional streetlights in the city will be replaced by LED lights, which cost significantly more than normal lights, but have lower operational costs, longer life, and are more environment friendly.

The CDA has awarded the LED lights contract, worth approximately Rs8 billion, to a firm backed by an influential Islamabad-based businessman with close ties to the upper echelon of the ruling Pakistan Peoples’ Party.

Transparency International (TI) expressed concern over the opaque manner in which the contract was awarded. TI Chairman Adil Gilani confirmed the development and said that TI is still investigating the project, while adding that he had asked the CDA chief to revisit the award decision as transparent procedures were not observed.

The suggestion seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

The project was also discussed by the Senate Committee on the Cabinet Division, during a recent meeting, with Committee Chairman Shahid Hussain Bugti referring to the project as a “scam in the offing”.

CDA officials would not confirm the final award of the project, but sources said that it has already been awarded to an international company.

The project will be financed by a loan from the Asian Development Bank. CDA officials said the proposed loan would severely impact the already weak finances of the CDA, which are bleeding in the red at the moment. The sources added that the.

A senior CDA official said priority should be given to dozens of public-interest projects including new sector development and the replacement of water supply lines, both of which have been delayed due to the agency’s inability to finance them.

Sources in the Planning Commission told The Express Tribune that former CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi could not ensure the early execution of the project, which in turn led to his replacement with Farkhand Iqbal, who was the senior chief of the Planning Commission’s energy wing. The sources believe that Iqbal’s background in the Planning department could help get the project pushed through.

The sources also said that Iqbal’s name was forwarded by Faisal Sakhi Butt, the chairman of the new Prime Minister’s Task Force on CDA and a well connected member of the ruling party.

When approached for comment, Butt told The Express Tribune that he had only suggested Iqbal’s name from a list of potential candidates and that the final decision was the prime minister’s alone.

Another historic first may be connected with the deal, as CDA Electrical and Mechanical Director General Abrar Shah, who is also in charge of the project, was recently promoted to member engineering. It is the first time since the CDA was set up that an electrical engineer has been appointed member engineering, a post usually occupied by civil engineers.

When The Express Tribune approached Faisal Butt, he said the LED lights project is vital for the city based on donors’ recommendations and the fact that the project would save the CDA 30 to 40 per cent on its power bills (around 18 megawatts) that could be used for other purposes, while adding that he had nothing to do with the project.

CDA Chairman Farkhand Iqbal did not answer his phone when contacted. However, CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said that Iqbal was busy preparing a presentation for Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haq on the city’s proposed energy system.

Dr Haq would not comment on the project, saying that his comments had previously been “distorted” in the media, and he would not be making any statements on the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2012.