Facing daunting administrative and financial challenges ahead, Engineer Farkhand Iqbal assumed the charge of office as Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Friday, according to APP.
Inheriting mounting problems from his predecessor Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, who has been transferred to the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) as its secretary, the new chairman will not only have to pull the civic agency out of the financial crisis but also work on other challenges like tackling political influence, corruption in the CDA, development of new sectors and sustainability of environment. The two-year tenure of Elahi saw delays in the completion of mega projects including Zero Point Interchange and failure to develop any new sector.
An official said that the CDA moved from a financially stable position in Kamran Lashari’s time to the brink of bankruptcy under Elahi.
Dreams of the past
The new city boss’s top priorities should be launching of new residential sectors to meet the growing demand for housing units, water conservation, rainwater harvesting, addressing environmental issues, providing decent public transport to the people, and above all bringing in transparency and good governance. These were all promised in the previous term.
To illustrate the deteriorating situation of the civic agency, an official said that for the fiscal year 2010-11, the CDA had announced a budget of Rs22.71 billion and at present, it owes Rs35 billion in liabilities on land acquisition alone. “A sizable chunk of Public Sector Development Programmes and maintenance grants in the aftermath of floods in the country was said to have impacted 20 projects,” he added.
Rehabilitation and upgradation of decades-old water supply lines that wasted up to 55 per cent of water supplied to the federal capital also remained unattended, as the authority needs Rs4 billion for the purpose. A rainwater harvesting project to raise underground water reserves was launched in 2010 with an allocation of Rs10 million. This project also went nowhere.
The civic agency was hit by one scam after another during the last two years. The odd situation led the authority to present the record of all such deals before the accountability agencies.
Gross irregularities in the allotment of agro-farms and plots in Kuri Model Village forced a number of jaws to drop when they were unveiled.
Some of the issues that came into limelight for wrong reasons were — construction in the restricted green areas (Zone-III and Zone-IV), Kuri Road scam and irregularities in development of new sectors.
Moreover, to overcome the financial crisis, the city managers have been selling the prime land in an unsuccessful attempt to shore up its revenue. Three such auctions were held, but they failed to raise the desired revenue. Attempts to develop new sectors with private investors as joint venture also proved futile. Therefore, financing the massive agency would be cause of concern.
Elahi, who is reputed to be an upright officer, had hinted at political interference from the highest offices. If true, his successor, Iqbal, will have an uphill task bringing back the CDA some of its former glory.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2011.
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