Despite devolution of powers performance to the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC), the local government and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) both had little to show last year with respect to provision of municipal and allied services.
The first local government (LG) became functional after Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz and three deputy mayors took their oaths on March 3, 2016.
Initially, the mayor’s office remained ineffective due to stiff resistance from the CDA bureaucracy – specifically inordinate delays in the devolution of powers. Mayor Aziz was eventually able to rein in the bureaucracy, primarily due to his close relationship with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
To smooth out the issues, the PM later gave Aziz the additional charge of Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman in the first week of September, which provided him with sweeping powers to deal with CDA bureaucrats who were allegedly creating hurdles.
But despite the centralisation of power, Aziz was quickly mired in dealing with administrative issues and could not pay heed to civic issues including sanitation, garbage collection, or waste disposal. In addition, the lack of footpaths, particularly along smaller streets within the sectors, pollution in streams, and mushrooming growth of encroachments in markets and along roads further defaced the city.
Meanwhile, rural and urban citizens alike are still grappling with where to go to get their grievances related to civic issues addressed.
Temporary offices for Mayor Aziz and deputy mayors Zeeshan Naqvi alias Shaani Shah, Chaudhry Riffat Javed, and Azam Khan had been set up in the old naval headquarters building, but they seldom showed up there.
The IMC held its first session on June 27, with water supply at the top of the agenda. During the year, they managed eight sessions, yet the agenda remained dominated by water and sanitation problems.
Even after the delegation of powers and transfer of almost all directorates to the IMC, the city government was unable to address core civic issues.
The Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) was unable to even chalk out a clear roadmap to address civic issues.
Meanwhile, Aziz, in the capacity of CDA chairman, succeeded in amending building regulations to accommodate illegal storeys added by building owners in violations of CDA regulations.
However, the year ended with a reminder from the premier that more needed to be done.
Pindi problems
Rawalpindi saw no major development work in 2016, while many important ongoing projects in health and infrastructure development went unattended, apparently owing to lack of interest from local politicians.
Pakistan’s fourth-most populous city has seen no major development work after the Metro Bus Service was initiated in 2015, despite the fact that the city requires new roads, or at least wider ones, owing to rising pressure on existing communications infrastructure.
Additional medical facilities are also needed to serve the increasing population.
Since the inauguration of the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology in September 2012, no new hospital has been built in Rawalpindi district, which has seven National Assembly constituencies.
Important projects such as the Mother and Children Hospital at Asghar Mall Road and Rawalpindi Institute of Urology remain unattended in the city.
The Mother and Child Hospital was started in 2005 at a cost of Rs2.5 billion by the federal government. The hospital, supposed to be a major maternal healthcare provider, was shelved after the 2008 general elections.
From 2008 to 2013, the project made no headway, ostensibly due to tussles between the PPP government in the centre and the PML-N in Punjab. After the PML-N government also took power in the centre in 2013, it became clearer that the party had no interest in completing the project that was initiated by AML leader Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed during his time as a PML-Q minister.
As far as RIU is concerned, former PML-N MNA Hanif Abbasi came up with the idea for a new hospital on Benazir Bhutto Road, near Sixth Road. Work on the 200-bed facility started in 2012, but the project now faces funding issues.
Even communications infrastructure, which the PML-N seems to pride itself on developing, saw no real improvement. Rawal Road was the last major road added to the city network.
Projects such as Ring Road and Leh Expressway require the immediate attention of the government.
Meanwhile, the Leh Expressway project has been frozen in time since 2008, despite the fact that Frontier Works Organisation had completed the initial work.
In the meantime, Rawalpindi Development Authority had once again started initial work on a 26-kilometre ring road. It is looking for firms to prepare a PC-I for the road, which would start from Rawat and end at Tarnol.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2017.
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