CDA board wants Shakarparian Culture Complex revived

Body approves promotion of planning director

ISLAMABAD: The apex decision-making body of the capital’s civic agency has endorsed a summary from its planning wing to resume construction on the abandoned Shakarparian Culture Complex.

The Board of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) met at CDA Headquarters on Friday with Mayor and CDA Chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz in the chair.

Curiously, the complex was not on the board’s agenda for the day.

The board members were briefed that the project started in 2007-08 without a proper feasibility study. It was estimated to cost over a billion rupees.

However, work on the project ground to halt in 2009, but not before the CDA had spent Rs420 million on it. The plan was to build an auditorium, an amphitheatre, an administration block, two cinemas, a conference hall, a seminar hall, a cafeteria and a coffee shop over a sprawling property measuring 28.5 acres.

According to CDA documents, most of the buildings at complex have been substantially worked on, except for the auditorium and the amphitheatre.

Despite that, the civic body’s records show that due to delays, several issues arose in the construction of the project, including the expiry of the bank guarantee against mobilisation advance, the expiry of the consultancy contract, expiry of the construction contract, contractors allegedly idling and non-encashment of performance guarantee due to a court order.

While deciding to resume construction of the project, the board has also decided to promote the Planning director to basic pay scale (BPS) grade 19.

Currently, no officer working in CDA’s planning wing is of BPS-19 since fresh appointments have been frozen for years.

A planning wing official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity since he was not authorised to speak to the media, that except for CDA Member Planning, all other officers were either working in BPS-18 or below. With no promotions lined up, this had become a source of frustration for officers working in the wing.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2017.