An official says the proposal is not practical. PHOTO: fb.com/CADD.gov.pk
A proposal is being weighed up to bring the city administration under the control of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD).
Authorities are weighing up pros and cons of the proposal, which is aimed to centralise governance system in the capital, a senior official privy to the development confided to The Express Tribune.
Capital’s governance system has always been a puzzle due to its multi-tier structure.
Taking into account this “flawed” system, in November 2015, the federal government shifted the Capital Development Authority (CDA) under the administrative control of the CADD.
Previously, the civic agency was under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division.
Currently, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration’s control rests with the interior ministry.
The official said that the State Minister, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, had been pursuing the matter with the relevant quarters.
The federal capital has three executive streams with overlapping mandates: the civic agency, under the administrative control of the CADD, is primarily responsible for overall planning and development of the capital city; the ICT Administration under the control of the interior ministry and responsible for rural areas, and the newly-installed local government system.
The overlapping mandates and three different controlling authorities of these departments will create problems in future, the official said.
He said that it was the need of the hour to take steps for centralisation of these departments for better control and performance. Sometimes, the official said, those departments did not function properly on the same issue.
In case of failure to achieve the results, the departments at times play blame game.
However, a senior official of the ICT Administration rejected that, saying “shifting the control of the ICT Administration to the CADD is not possible administratively”.
There are several departments, such as police, in the ICT Administration, which work in close coordination with the Interior Ministry, and shifting its control to the CADD would create a plethora of problems.
He said that it might be just a sweet wish of some minister, but in actual fact, it was impossible to materialise that proposal.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2016.
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