Agency also owes around Rs10 billion in overdue liabilities. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ERRA also owes Rs10 billion in liabilities which are long overdue, acting deputy chairman of ERRA, Brig Abu Bakr Amin Bajwa, informed a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The agenda of the meeting chaired by Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah – who heads the panel – was to discuss the 2013-14 audit report of ERRA. The chief of the authority had used the scarcity of funds to justify violations and delays in executing projects time and again.
During the meeting, director general audit of disaster management at the Auditor General’s office, Raheela Saad, said there were serious violations in different projects, especially reconstruction of schools, in earthquake-hit areas. She also pointed out that ERRA has yet to approve its own rules and regulations.
In response to her criticism, Bajwa said ERRA was unable to convene a board meeting over the last three and a half years due to the lack of a permanent chairperson. As such, he said, the authority could not formulate rules and regulations.
Bajwa also told the panel that ERRA had only Rs200 million in banks to spend. He added that the agency’s budget was decreasing with each fiscal year. “The highest budget ever allotted to ERRA was Rs14.6 billion in 2009. It drastically decreased in 2011-12 and in the current year, has been slashed to around Rs2.5 billion.”
Replying to a question posed by MNA Junaid Chaudhry, Bajwa said ERRA had used Rs89 billion since its inception.
Meanwhile, PAC chairman Khursheed Shah voiced concern when told 33% of ERRA’s work was still incomplete. He directed the panel’s additional secretary to write to the finance ministry to address the issue on priority basis.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2016.
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