Govt flouts law in Rs350m capacity enhancing project

Project aim is to accommodate retired bureaucrats, renovate accommodation

ISLAMABAD: In desperate efforts to accommodate retired bureaucrats, the government has committed violation of rules while approving third phase of the Rs350-million institutional strengthening project.

The Planning Commission, which is responsible to ensure effective utilisation of public funds by all government departments, has itself ignored the laid-down procedures and rules to approve the project.

About two weeks ago, the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) approved the third phase of the institutional strengthening and efficiency project without seeking completion reports of the first two phases, said sources.

The CDWP also did not seek evaluation reports of the first two phases and cleared the scheme in haste, they added.



Apparently, the primary objective of approving the project is to accommodate retired bureaucrats and renovate official accommodations. However, in light of fresh revelations, the government may not be able to sanction funds for the scheme.

More than half of the money - 56% or Rs197 million - will be spent on refurbishing the office space and purchasing furniture. Another Rs105 million, or 30%, will go to specialists, advisers and others.

The laid-down procedures require project authorities to submit the PC-IV document of the previous phase of the project before seeking approval of the fresh phase.

The Planning Commission’s record showed that the project director had not submitted any of the two outstanding PC-IV documents. This means the third phase cannot be approved.

“Technically, the new phase of an ongoing scheme means that codal formalities have to be met afresh including the hiring of people,” said an official of the Planning Commission.

However, the existing staff of the project will continue to work in the third phase, which may invite attention of the accountability watchdog.

The green signal for the existing staff appears illegal as this has been done without giving advertisement in the media, according to senior officials. There are instances where the Public Accounts Committee has ordered the recovery of remuneration in cases where people have been hired in violation of the set procedures.

Instead of chief governance of the Planning Commission, Development Budget Adviser Asif Sheikh presented the project for approval in the CDWP meeting.

Planning and Development Secretary Shoaib Siddiqi emphasised the need for continuing the project, although he said all procedural formalities would be completed.

“This project is important to support the ministry’s role in framing the development and annual plans,” said Siddiqi.

There is also another law violation as people beyond the maximum age limit of 65 years, fixed for any government job, have been hired.

Project history

The project had been designed to strengthen the Planning Commission and Ministry of Planning. However, it resulted in duplication of work and undermined efforts of the regular staff of the planning ministry.

A regular wing - called the Public Investment Programme - is already there for the same purpose, but it is overshadowed by the development budget adviser, who is running a parallel set-up.



Although the CDWP approved the third phase on July 24, it was actually the sixth extension in the scheme. The project had been originally approved in November 2006 by the Departmental Development Working Party at a cost of only Rs39.9 million. The first revision came hardly four months later when the CDWP approved it at a cost of Rs59 million.

The third revision came in April 2009 when the cost was increased to Rs144.2 million. Then the fourth revision came in March 2015 when the cost was increased to Rs178.9 million. The fifth revision was approved in January this year and the cost swelled to Rs200 million.

Finally, the sixth revision, which is called the third phase, was approved on July 24 when the overall cost was increased to Rs350 million. Effectively, the cost has gone up by 775% in the past 11 years.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2017.

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