Accusation: Airport link road scheme alleged to favour minister

Construction costs inflated to Rs100 billion, alleges JUI-F senator.

ISLAMABAD: The absence of top officials of bureaucracy irked members of the Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat (Aviation) who took suo motu notice of the construction of a new link road to Islamabad’s airport. The committee resolved to table a privilege motion in the subsequent meeting if the officials remain absent once more.

The committee, which met to discuss the expenditure and the need for the construction of the new road, waited for the officials for more than an hour. Two officials from the National Highway Authority, Raja Nowsherwan and Col. Musaddiq of the Designing department, finally arrived at the meeting.

The committee was told that the decision to create a new route was taken in a meeting of the Aviation Division in July 2013 after the original plan was approved by the cabinet in 2006.

Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)’s Senator Talha Mahmood claimed that the new route included villages that fell under the interior minister’s constituency. “Was the new route intended to dish out benefits through increasing land prices?” he asked. Senator Mahmood pointed out that the original cost of the project was Rs35 billion; it has now escalated to Rs100 billion. NHA representatives said the changes to the route had been made by the present government. The committee has held more than 48 meetings to date regarding this project. Senator Mahmood claimed that the path the route takes has been changed to benefit certain groups. However, the PML-N’s Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan said this claim is baseless and mala fide.

Nowsherwan informed the committee that the total estimated additional cost of the project, following the construction of new link roads, is Rs15 billion.”The NHA is the executing authority and we take orders from the government,” he said, adding that the project falls under the purview of the Civil Aviation Authority; officials from the CAA were not present at the meeting. Nowsherwan added that the deadline for the completion of the new Islamabad airport is a year and a half away and the construction of the route needed to be completed as soon as possible.

The committee was informed that the decision to create the route was taken in light of increasing traffic congestion within the capital. However, NHA officials did not possess the details about the difference in cost between the original plan and the revised plan for the route. The committee was assured that it would be provided a breakdown of funds in the subsequent meeting.

The cabinet committee meeting was rescheduled, as the relevant officials were not present. Chairperson of the Standing Committee Kalsoom Parveen remarked that it seemed the officials were deliberately delaying the process. Notices were issued to the Chairman of the Capital Development Authority, Islamabad City Territory Administration (ICT), National Highway Authority and Commissioner of Rawalpindi for their failure to appear before the committee.

The chairperson said a privilege motion will be tabled at the next meeting if the relevant officials failed to attend the meeting once more. The committee’s recommendations and other relevant documents are expected to be presented at the next meeting.