ISLAMABAD:
Irregularities in granting permission to set up fuel stations in the city and lax attitude of city managers have caused millions of rupees losses to the national exchequer, audit report say. The Capital Development Authority issued ‘No objection certificates’ (NOC) for setting up petrol pumps and CNG stations on Kashmir Highway and Simply Dam Road without any open advertisement, causing Rs49.45 million to the civic agency. To top it off, the city managers did not even bother to present a reply on this issue to the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), whose annual audit report for 2010-11 reveals the unending tale of corrupt practices and irregularities in CDA affairs.
Losses of billions of rupees were confirmed in the report, mostly because of negligence and rampant corruption by CDA officials, especially in the award of contracts.
Once regarded as the best run civic agency in the country, the CDA has degenerated into a principle example of mismanagement at its finest. The biggest question marks hover over four CDA departments, namely Project Management Office (PMO), Planning and Land directorates and Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA).
The AGP pointed out that the failure to receive payments of over a billion rupees was due to the lax attitude of PMO, specifically its failure to fulfil its pledges with contractors working on mega projects like Centaurus, a multi-purpose tower on Jinnah Avenue, and against the construction of a three-star hotel near Pak Palace Motel on Murree Road.
Centaurus’s administration withheld the payment of Rs816 million to the CDA over the latter’s failure to provide basic amenities at the worksite. The same issue rose in the case of the construction of the three-star hotel, with the hotel administration withholding Rs427.80 million.
Moreover, loss of revenue due to unauthentic waiver of right of way charges by the PMO to WorldCall Telecom Limited amounted to 184.45 million per annum for the civic body. WorldCall, which is owned by a prominent political family linked to the PPP, was also charged a lesser rate and allowed unauthorised discounts, costing the CDA more than Rs22.40 million. Similarly, when WorldCall failed to complete project in time, than Rs5 million recovery was not made by CDA officials.
The CDA lost over Rs600 million due to illegal allotment of a number of plots, agriculture farms, shops and sites for restaurants to selected persons, the audit report confirmed. On June 2, in a case of illegal allotment of 4,000 plots to selected officials of CDA, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammmad Chaudhry observed, “It seems like there is no other function of the CDA but to allot plots to selected people.”
The court asked the civic body to follow the rules and gave the CDA 21 days to reply over the plot allotment issue. The AGP report reveals that the CDA planning director allowed construction of Zarkoon Heights in Zone-2 and Shaia’s River View Apartments in Zone-5 after approval of building plans but without the submission of Rs100 million bank guarantees.
The planning director also failed to collect Rs10 million in extension charges from private housing schemes. The same directorate allotted a plot in the Industrial Area sector 1-10/3 for the production of potato chips. The plot is now home to wi-tribe Pakistan Limited’s ‘Laying of Fiber Optic Duct Project’.
The owner of the plot paid a much lower amount with the collaboration of CDA officials while changing the nature of trade from industrial to commercial. This practice caused losses of Rs7.28 million to CDA.
DMA also caused millions of rupees in losses to the CDA by allotting restaurants, arts and crafts sites, kiosks, parking sites, coach and taxi stands as the DMA director gave exemptions to them and did not collect Rs29.55 million in license fees and rent from different companies. The AGP report also reveals that unjustified expenditure on repair and maintenance of houses caused losses to the tune of Rs45.03 million.
The Planning Directorate also refused to produce the documents relating to the award of the diplomatic shuttle bus service contract to the AGP and transport authority as well. The expensive bus service is being run by a private transporter without the approval of Islamabad Transport Authority.
The AGP recommended disciplinary action against the officials responsible.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2011.
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