Just over 10 days water reserve left

Senate committee on CADD told that water situation to worsen if it does not rain soon

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Capital Administration and Development on Friday discussed the alarming situation of non-availability of water in different areas of Islamabad.

The committee was shocked to know that Islamabad only has water reserves for 10 or 15 more days if it did not rain in the next few days.

The matter of construction of high rise flats on an area designated for park in the residential society by Pakistan Housing Authority near Kurri Road was also discussed.



Member Planning CDA told the meeting that on receiving complaints about the construction, CDA had rejected PHA's request for NOC against their layout plan and had served them notices that their construction was illegal

The Senate Standing Committee on CADD also sought complete details of the lease agreement with a restaurant complex at Pir Sohawa prior to its next meeting and asked for any and all information of previous litigation in this regard.

Senate body in a meeting also sought amount of tax collected, number and details of bidders, amount of rent and law regarding constructing the restaurant and continuously expanding it in the area that was declared national park.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Ashok Kumar at the Parliament House and was attended among others by senators Nighat Mirza, Saadia Abbasi, Kalsoom Parveen, CADD secretary, CDA member finance, member planning, and member engineering among others.

The committee was given briefing by director of Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation that the process for auction of the building in Pir Sohawa was initiated in 2005 and out of eight bidders, the land and building was given on a lease for 15 years to the company with the highest bid and with technical soundness in 2006 with the agreement to end in 2021.



The committee chairman, however, observed that in order to believe that this bidder came with the best price, the committee needs to see details of all bids submitted at that time.

The members of the committee were informed that the company running the restaurant complex at Pir Sohawa gives a monthly rent of Rs260,000 and sought details of the lease agreement.

CDA member finance said that Public Accounts Committee which had directed that after completion of the agreement in 2021, it is not to be renewed to the same party again but the process should be initiated again from the start.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2018.