CDA told to renovate Parliament Lodge suites

A Senate panel on Thursday directed the apex civic agency of the federal capital to examine and submit a report on the work required to repair suites in the Parliament Lodges.

This was directed as Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwala chaired a meeting of the Senate House Committee on Thursday.

He said that Senators have been allotted 83 suites in the lodges which require renovation. Mandviwala further directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to examine each suite and prepare a report about the degree of renovation required in each.

Senator Kauda Babar recalled that two years ago, the deputy chairman had written to the CDA to initiate repairs on his lodge. However, the authority had yet to start work. He suggested outsourcing the maintenance of the lodges as neither the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) nor the CDA, do any work.

At this, CDA officials defended their department said that they were only given a budget of Rs176 million against the listed requirements of Rs400 million for the lodges.

Senator Kulsoom Perveen remarked that the doors and windows of their suites have been eaten by termites and could fall at any moment.

The committee was told that a project has been prepared for renovating and repairing suites of the Parliament Lodges.

CDA officials told the committee that they will work as per the instructions of the Senate and the National Assembly. At this, the committee decided to examine the project’s documents in the next meeting.

The panel also directed the CDA to form a team to assess details of repair work needed in the suites.

Further, the CDA officials told the committee that they will need around Rs150 million for the seven lifts installed in the lodges, besides another Rs49 million for a fire alarm system.

The house committee decided to summon officials from the finance ministry and the planning commission at its next meeting to arrange the funds. They will also be asked about the allocation of Rs2 billion for creating family suites in 104 parliament lodges under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the fiscal year 2020-21.

The committee chairman further directed to hire a consultant for the resolution of problems of the old contractor so that the suites can be built fast.

Moreover, the committee also reviewed recommendations submitted on May 15. Regarding the water filtration plants at the lodges, Islamabad Municipal Corporation (IMC) Water Supply director said that a test report for water samples from the lodges has yet to be compiled. At this, the committee chairman got angry and pointed out that the IMC has taken three months to get water samples tested.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2020.